
•n^o* 














%^^^ 






'vP^b' 







0° .'^l' "^^o 




o V 




/\V /y^<^ ""IP^ /\ .,_ , 




* ^ 




^oV^ 




•^ "^^0^ 












.^^. „^ "^^^ 








• ^-^ 












LV- 



DOCUMENTS 



AND 



FFICIAL REPORTS 



ILLUSTRATING 



THE CAUSES WHICH LED TO THE 



REVOLUTION IN THE GOVERNMENT 

OF THE 

SENEiaA IfilijiAiSS, 

IN THE YEAE 1848, 

AND TO THE RECOGNITION 



or THEIR 



REPRESEMATIVE REPrBlICAN CONSTITUTION, 



^ . 



BY THE AUTHORITIES 

S -^ OF THE 

UNITED STATES, . 

AND OF THB 

STATE OF NEW YOEK. 




BALTIMORE : 

PRINTED BY WM. WOOBDY k SON, 

1857. 



^ 



^ 



DOCUMENTS 

AND 

OFFICIAL KEPORTS. 



A portion of the Seneca Chiefs having, in the year 1838, been 
induced to sign a Treaty, by which they conveyed to a company 
of speculators, the entire remains of the Land in the State of 
New York, belonging to the Seneca Nation ; being about one 
hundred and twenty-five thousand acres. (125,000 ) This 
Treaty was laid before the Senate of the United States, and 
referred to a Committee of that Body, who with a zeal and industry 
becoming the importance of the subject, went into a careful ex- 
amination of it, and of the Documents that accompanied it. In the 
course of their investigation, they found that they could not 
recommend its ratification. While it was under consideration, 
the Indians came forward and charged that fraud, perjury, and 
bribery had been used in obtaining signatures to it ; they also 
stated that a majority of the Chiefs neither approved of, nor had 
signed it. Upon this information being received, the committee of 
the Senate without consultation with the Senecas, remodeled and 
changed its original character, so thoroughly, as to make it quite 
a different Treaty, and then reported it back to the Senate. In 
this form the Senate concurred with it, and on the 11th of the 
6th month, 1838, adopted a resolution which provided for a 
reconsideration of the Treaty by the Indians; and that the 
same should have no force or efi'ect whatever, as it relates to any 
of the Tribes, Nations or Bands of New York Indians, nor should 
it be understood that the Senate had assented to any of the 
contracts connected therewith, until the same with the amend- 



ments therein proposed, should be submitted and fairly explained 
by a Commissioner of the United States to each of said Tribes 
or Bands separately assemlled in Council, and they had given 
their free and voluntary assent to said Treaty, as amended, and 
to their contracts connected therewith, in which case only, it was 
to be binding. 

The President of the United States, to whom the subject now 
stood referred, in the message to the Senate, dated January 18th 
1840, expressly says : — "The provision of the resolution of the 
Senate of the 11th of June, 1838, requiring the assent of each 
of the said Tribes of Indians to the amended Treaty to be given 
in Council, and which was also made a condition precedent to 
the recommendation to me of the Senate of 2d March 1839, to 
carry the same into effect, has not been complied with as it 
respects the Seneca Tribe. ^' 

In this Message of the President, be further says : — "With 
reference to the transactions in council at Cattaragus, in August, 
1839, before alluded to, no advance towards obtaining the assent 
of the Seneca Tribe to the amended Treaty in Council was made, 
nor can the consent of a majority of them in council be now 
obtained." In allusion to the charge of bribery, the evidences of 
which were overwhelming, the President says: — ' That improper 
means have been employed to ob ain the assent of the Semca 
Chiefs, there is every reason to believe, and I have not been able 
to satisfy myself that I can consistently, with the resolution of the 
Senate of 2d March 1839, cause the Treaty to be carried into 
effect, in respect to the Seneca Tribe.'* 

The amended Treaty however, which stripped the Senecas of 
the last remains of their paternal inheritence, was approved by 
the casting vote of the Speaker of the Senate, and ratified by the 
President of the United States, notwithstanding it had been 
returned by him to the Senate, with the information that "the 
assent of the Seneca Tribe had not been given, nor could it be 
obtained to it ;'* and further, referring to the Bribery contracts 
made with the Chiefs that had signed it, he had stated ' 'that there 
was every reason to believe that improper means had been em- 
j)loyed to obtain tbje arecnt of the Seneca Chiefs, and therefbro 



he could not consistently, with the resolution of the Senate, of 
25th March, 1839, cause the Treaty to be carried into effect, in 
resppct to the Seneca Tribe." 

When information reached the Indians that the Treaty, as it 
had been amended by the Senate, was ratified, and that by it, 
their Lands would be taken from them ; and further that if they 
did not voluntarily surrender and leave them, they would by 
compulsory measures be forced to do so, and be driven into a 
distant wilderness where they fully expected poverty, disease 
and death awaited them ; they were plunged into the deepest 
despair. In a letter from one of the Chiefs, he says: — ''On the 
annunciation to the Indians of this result, consternation and 
gloom were every where spread over our villages. Relying 
upon the protection of the Government, and the justice of our 
cause, we were not, after the disclosures of the means employed 
to obtain that Treaty, prepared for this issue, and on being ap- 
prised of it, the deepest distress was manifested ; our women were 
seen on all sides weeping in their houses, and along the roads as 
they passed to their occupations, and in the fields whilst employed 
in their labours." 

In their distress they appealed to the Society of Friends, for 
advice and assistance, and on the 28th of the 5th month, a meeting 
of the committees appointed by the four Yearly Meetings was 
convened, when upon taking into consideration, the application 
of those Indians, and being informed that their Chiefs desired to 
have a conference with them, the Committee appointed a Delega- 
tion to meet them at Farmington in the State of New York on 
the 17th day of the 6th month, 1840. On arriving there, the 
Delegation was met by the head Sachem of the Seneca Tribe, 
and other Chiefs, with two interpreters, when, after stating to 
the Committee that they had desired the present interview for 
the purpose of asking their advice and assistance, in the perplexed 
and very distressed situation to which they were brought by the 
Hale of their Land, under a Treaty to which the Seneca Nation 
had not been a party, nor ever assented, the Sachem said : — 

'^Brothers, we are in trouble ; we have been told that our Land 
Jiw been eold, and under the accumulating diflSculities and trials 



tliat now surround us, we solicit your advice and sympathy. 
"Wg feci more than ever, our need of the help of the Great and 
Good Spirit. May his counsel guide and direct us in wisdom." 

' 'It is known to you brothers, that at different times our Nation 
Las been induced to cede by stipulated Treaties to the United 
States, various Tracts of our Territory, until it is now so small 
that it only affords us a home. Brothers, We hoped by the 
liberal concessions we had made of our lands to secure the quiet, 
unmolested occupancy of this small residue. But we have abun- 
dant reason to fear that we have been mistaken. The Agent 
and surveyor of a company of land speculators, known as the 
"Ogden (•ompany," have been on here, to lay out our Land for 
the purpose of selling it off. We have protested against their 
proceeding and forbid them." 

"Brothers what we want is, that you should intercede with the 
United States Government in our behalf. We wish you to 
know, and we want you and the Government and people of the 
United States to know, that we never signed that Treaty to give 
up our Lands. Of the six hundred Indians who compose our 
Band, (Tonawanda*) one individual only, signed it, and he re- 
sided at Buffalo. This Treaty which we know has been ratified 
by President Yan Buren is a fraudulent one. Ransom H. Gillet, 
the Government Agent, violated the good faith of the Govern- 
ment and the Law respecting the ra'ification of Treaties, by ap- 
plying to Indians at their houses, some of them upon their sick, 
beds, also on the highways and at Taverns and offering them 
money if they would sign said Treaty. We wish it also to be 
known, that in the General Council convened at Buffalo for the 
express purpose of considering this Treaty, sixteen Chiefs only 
were in favor of signing it, and sixty-four were decidedly op- 
posed to it." 

*The Tonawandas are a distinct band ; their Reserration is situated 
not less than fift) m leu from the Cattaraugus Reservation and still more 
remote from the Allegany R*-servation. They are mot polit-cally couLected 
wiik either of those bands, and ihey disclaim any participation in the 
amended Treaty, and deny that tfae Chiefs residing on other Rese ra- 
tions, who signed away their land by that Treaty, had any right or au- 
thority to do it. 



**Tliat Jimmy Johnson, the head Cliief of the Seneca Nation, 
never signed that Treaty, and the putting of his name to the 
Treaty, whether by the Agent or some one else, ivas a forgery.'^ 

"Brothers, we want the President to know that we are for peace, 
and that we only ask the possession of our rights. True, we are 
small in number, but we ask for justice. We want to be allowed 
to live on our Land in peace. We have no wish to leave it. It 
is the residue of the Land of our fathers, and here we wish to 
lay down our bones in peace." 

Under the circumstances these Indians then appeared to be 
placed, the Committee, though deeply sympathising with them, 
saw no way at that time by which they could afford them any 
relief, and in the course of their reply to the address of the 
Indians, after some consultation the Committee agreed to return 
them the following reply. 

"Brothers'. — We have considered your request that we should 
give you counsel and assistance. We have looked all around us 
for a right way, and a safe path for the Indians to walk in, and 
we have concluded to give you our advice. You say that the 
Seneca Nation has not sold its Lands. You assure us that the 
Treaty lately ratified by the Senate of the United States was not 
executed according to the conditions solemnly adopted and pre- 
scribed by that body. You say that it was not signed by a ma- 
jority of your Lawful Chiefs. You have told us that many who 
did sign it, were bribed by large sums of money to induce them 
thus to act, without the authority, and contrary to the will of 
your people. You also tell us that some of the names signed to 
the Treaty are forgeries, and that under these circumstances you 
are not willing to leave your Lands, which the Great Spirit gave 
you, and which the Government of the United States, by Treat- 
ies with your people, have assured to you in the most solemn 
manner." 

"Brothen, we cannot advise you to resist by force, even in an 
unjust decree. To do so would be wrong. That path is a bloody 
path — it is strewed with the dead and the dying. The Great 
Spirit leads none of his children into that path." 

"Brothers J wc have understood, and wc belieyc it to be imcj 



ikat the Senate of the United States has ratified the Treaty, and 
that the President has proclaimed it to be the Law of the Land." 

''Brothers, Listen! — The Great Spirit loves quiet peaceable 
children and when they walk in this path, he is always near to 
them — he hears all their cries — he sees all their afflictions and 
distress, and in his own time, sends them relief in his own way, 
which is the best way." 

''Brothers, we think it best for you, at this time, to remain 
peacefully and quietly on your own Lands, keep as much as pos- 
sible at your homes, till your ground, take care of your stock, 
provide for your families, let your children be taught useful 
learning, and as much as possible live peaceably with all men." 

"Brothers, the Society of Friends have felt much sympathy for 
your people — we have heard with great pain, of the wrongs and 
injuries which have been heaped upon you — we have seen your 
tears and have wept for you — we have remembered the kindness 
of your fathers to our fathers when you were a strong people, 
and we were few in number, and very weak ; and we now wish 
to do all we can to help you. We have concluded to address the 
Governor of Massachusetts, the Governor of New York, and the 
House of Representatives of the United States, on your behalf." 

"Brothers, we now bid you farewell; and in doing so, we wish 
to inform you that we will not forget our Red Brethren, but 
intend, with the help of the Great Spirit, to continue our efforts 
to aid them, and to promote their present and future welfare." 

The Committee having gained all the information they could 
obtain, relative to the means by which both the Treaty of 1838 
and the amended Treaty of 1839 had been procured, and being 
fully satisfied, from reliable evidence, that the representation 
made by the Indians was proved to be true, and that the Presi- 
dent was correct, when on returning the amended Treaty to the 
Senate, he stated, "that the assent to it never was gicen according 
to the directions of the Senate, by a majority of the Chiefs,^' and 
also when on alluding to the bribery contracts, he said, "im- 
proper n^eans have been employed to obtain the assent of the 
Seneca Chiefs to the amended Treaty." They accordingly pro- 
ceeded to present Memorial to both Houegb of Congress, and to 



tiie executive of Massaeliusetts, in which, clear statements were 
laid before these authorities, relative to the injustice that had 
been inflicted upon the Seneca Indians. But discovering there 
vras but little prospect of obtaining effectual relief from Congress, 
they concluded to apply to three of the most eminent Legal 
Counsel in the United States, who, after considering the matter, 
informed the Committee, "that the Treaty having been duly ap- 
proved by the Senate, and ratified and proclaimed by the Presi- 
dent, it had passed through all the requisite forms necessary to 
give it validity, and would be sustained and carried into effect 
by the Courts of Law ; an appeal therefore to the Courts of the 
United States, would be useless, as the Courts would not go be- 
hind the Treaty to enquire into the means by which it had been 
procured or negotiated," This being the state of the matter, 
there seemed to be no hope of any relief for the Indians. A 
member of the Committee, however, called on Daniel "Webster, 
one of the Counsel, who had been consulted, and enquired of him 
if he could suggest ariy measures that might enable the friends 
of the Senecas to rescue them from the impending destruction 
that then threatened them ? After some conversation he replied, 
that perhaps something might be gained by a compromise : — this 
he said was the only resource he could see, and he advised the 
Friends of the Indians to make the eff'ort. 

Approving of this proposal, the Friend who had called on 
Daniel Webster, went at once to the office of John C. Spencer, 
then Secretary of "War, to which Department the Indian Bureau 
was an appendage, and made a full representation to him of the 
manner the Indians had been treated, and the inevitable de- 
struction, the Treaty, if carried into eff'ect, would bring upon the 
Seneca Nation. 

On hearing this statement, the Secretary of War was deeply 
impressed, and with an earnestness and zeal which reflected tho 
highest lienor upon him as a lover of justice, and as a humane 
man, he said he would see if anything could be done. lie im- 
mediately wrote to Thomas L. Ogden, the leading Counsel and 
Agent of the Ogden Company, and suggested to him whether, 
"considering the eff"ort6 that would be made, and the powerful 



10 

infiuences that would be enlisted, to befriend the Indians, what- 
ever might be the issue of a suit, as the contest would lead to a 
protracted litigation, and involve very heavy expenses, would it 
not therefore, be most to the interest of the Land Company, tf> 
endeavour to enter into some compromise, by which they might 
come into an undisturbed possession of a portion of their 
purchase;" and he added, *'if this course should be approved he 
would endeavor to assist in- carrying it into effect." He recom- 
mended that an Agent properly authorised should come on to 
Washington, and as he passed through Baltimore, call on a 
Member of the Committee of Friends there, whom he named, 
and have some conversation with him. The Counsel of tho 
Ogden Company followed this advice, had a conference in 
Baltimore with the Friend named, and they both went to 
Washington. 

Without entering into further details, it will be sufficient to 
add, that through the well directed exertions of John C. Spencer, 
who will long be gratefully remembered by the Indians, a com- 
promise was effected, by which 53,000 acres of the Seneca Lands 
were restored to them, and an understanding entered into and a- 
greed upon by the parties, in the presence of th« Secretary of War, 
1st — That should these Indians at any time hereafter, desire to 
dispose of their Lands and emigrate to the West, their Friends 
would not interfere to prevent them. 2d — Until they should 
desire to do so, neither the Ogden Company, nor their Agents, 
would in any manner annoy or disturb them. How far the 
parties have complied with this agreement, the Documents here" 
after recorded will show. 

After the execution of the compromise Treaty, by which two of 
thei Reservations were returned to them, the Indians feeling 
themselves assured of a home, began to remove to their new 
habitations — to clear their lands and extend their agricultural 
operations : The hand of industry was now seen on all sides — new 
settlements were made — commodious dwellings were erected — 
barns built, and their fields enclosed with substantial fences. 
But they had not long enjoyed this repose before they discovered 
aew intrigues and schemes were in preparation to circumvent- 



11 

them. It wag in vain that their friends assured them they feeld 
an absolute and indefeasible title to their remaining Reservations, 
and that no power could legally dispossess them without their 
own consent. These assurances did not remove their fears. 
They had not forgotten that General Washington, when Presi- 
dent of the United States, in a speech to their distinguished 
Chief, Cornplant, had given them the same assurance. "Hear 
well," said that illustrious statesman, "and let it be heard by 
every person in your nation, the President of the United States 
declares, that the General Government considers itself hound to 
j-irotect you in all your lands secured to you by the Treaty of Fort 
Stanwix, in 1784. In future you cannot be defrauded of your 
lands. You possess a right to sell your lands, and therefore the 
sale of your lands in future will depend entirely on yourselves."*^ 

In addition to this solemn pledge given to them by their 
"Great Father" the President of the United States, they had, in 
reply to an address delivered from their nation to Dewitt Clinton, 
when Governor of the State of New York, received a similar 
assurance, viz : 

* 'All \hQ right that the Ogden Company have to your Reser- 
vations is the right to purchase them when you deem it expe- 
dient TO SELL TiiEM— that is, they can buy your lands, but no 
other person can. 

"You may retain them as long as you please. No man can 
deprive you of them without your consent. The State will pro- 
,tect you in the full enjoyment of your property." 

Notwithstanding these solemn assurances, the poor Senecas 
have from that day to the present, seen their princely domain, 
embracing millions of acres of the finest land in America melt 
away like snow beneath a summer sun. Notwithstanding the 
promise that the General Government would "protect them in 
their possessions," and the assurance that they should not he de- 
frauded of their lands, they had even within the past three 
years, seen the last inch of the fragment left to them of that ter- 
ritory, wrested from them by a fraudulent treaty, to ichich the 
Seneca nation in reality had not been a party; and that thig 
treaty, after its frauds had been exposed, was sanctioned by th« 



12 

very Government which the illustrious Washington had declared 
was "bound to protect them." Can there be any surprise 
then that this remnant of a ' 'peeled and scattered nation" should 
anxiously desire to know "what there was in their present posi- 
tion, to secure them from the loss of the little remains now re- 
stored to them of their once extensive Territory." 

Scarcely had the arrangement by w^hich two of their Reserva- 
tions were restored to them, been agreed upon and duly signed 
by the parties, when the Indians discovered that emissaries pro- 
fessing to be their friends, were actively endeavoring to organizo 
an opposition to the Treaty of 1842, and that by their intrigues 
they had already succeeded in producing so much unsettlednesg 
and disquietude, that it was deemed necessary to call a General 
Council of the Nation for the purpose of reconsidering the mat- 
ter; which Council a committee of Friends were requested to 
attend. This Council met on the 20th of the 6th month, 1843, 
and was attended by about 70 Indian Chiefs, and also by Samuel 
Hoare as Commissioner from Massachusetts ; Ambrose Spencer, 
Commissioner on the part of the United States ; Dixon, ap- 
pointed to represent the State of New York^ and by a delegation 
from the four Yearly Meetings of Friends who had aided the 
Indians in the recovery of a portion of the land that had been 
taken from them. After a thorough examination into every 
,clause of the treaty, and the Indians had been brought fully to 
understand all its provisions, and become convinced that it afford- 
ed the only security they had for the title and occupancy of the 
homes that had been restored to them, they decided by an almost 
unanimous vote, that the nation ratified and confirmed it. 

"With a pace as steady as time, and an appetite as keen as 
death" — nothing daunted by this defeat, the cormorants who were 
persisting in endeavoring to despoil these Indians and to drive 
them into a distant wilderness, regardless of the miseries and 
destruction that might follow, very soon concocted a new scheme,, 
and rene^yed their efi'orts to effect their removal, by organizing 
among them, an emigration party, by which they would effect the 
removal of as many of them as could be prevailed on to abandon 
their homes and emigrate to the West, 



13 

The principal agent in getting up and promoting this emigra- 
tion excitement, appears to have been a certain Doctor Hoge- 
boam. In a memorial to the President of the United States, 
from the Seneca Chiefs, they state that "one Doctor Hogeboam 
represented himself as having been appointed by the Executive 
of the Government of the United States, as a removing agent, 
to accompany such of our people as are anxious to remove to the 
country west of the Mississippi River ;" "and the said Dr. Hoge- 
boam also stated, that he had autliority^ power and instructions to 
remove from 2 or 3 individuals to 500 souls. Ihat the said Doc- 
tor Hogeboam further stated, that he had the funds of the Grov- 
ernment in his hands, and that he was merely waiting for the 
opening of the navigation of the lakes. On the other hand we 
are told by the United States Indian Agent, Stephen H. Osborne, 
of the city of Buffalo, that the subject of emigration to the coun- 
try west of the Mississippi, must now be forever abandoned " 

"The undersigned feeling a deep and anxious solicitude for the 
welfare of our people, and fearing that on account of these con- 
tradictory statements, much loss and injury may be sustained by 
such of our people who may be duped by the statements of Dr. 
Hogeboam, they will reap much suffering, and many of them 
will be reduced to poverty and starvation. We therefore request 
your Excellency to call a convention of the Tribes interested in 
this matter, or in any other way your Excellency may think 
proper, in order that our people may become undeceived and 
settled." • 

Signed hy nineteen Chiefs. 

The Doctor appears to have so managed his plans, as to have 
found means to obtain from among the Indians considerable aux- 
iliary assistance and co-operation, in furthering his emigration 
purposes. From the time of the execution of the Treaty of 1838, 
there had been a feeling of distrust in the minds of the Seneca 
people towards those Chiefs who had been induced to sign that 
Treaty. The corrupt means by which they had been induced to 
execute that instrument — the enormous bribes that had been 
received by them, and the perjuries and forgeries by which that 
/raud was accomplished, had been traced and made public, and 



u 

an Irreconcileable jealousy between the people and the Chiefs w^n 
the consequence. 

While the Indians however had been kept in a state of uneasy 
^nsettled restlessness among themselves, the Entente cordtale be- 
tw^een the Land Company, and that portion of them who had aided 
in procuring the Treaty of 1838, was not interrupted — the requisite 
appliances, to secure and preserve a good understanding between 
these confederates not having been omitted. The Indians were 
aware of this, and one of their Chiefs, in a council held at Catta- 
raugus in 1847, referring to the necessity they were under to 
depend upon the Friends who had assisted them in their times of 
trouble, said: — "These Friends have stood by us as a faithful 
shepherd stands by his flock ; they have not only warned us 
when the wolf was near, but came to our relief and drove him 
oif. We need their help now as much as ever we did. The wolf 
may even at this very time be nearer than we suppose, and before 
we think of him, he may seize us by the throat. We also stand 
in need of their assistance to protect us from the Traitors we now 
have among ourselves. Let us then hold fast by them, as our true 
and faithful friends." 

Notwithstanding the opposition that was made to the proposed 
Emigration of the Indians, Hogeboam, it appears^ succeeded in de- 
coying off, according to his own account^ two hundred and nineteen 
of them, including men, women and children, and having con- 
ducted them to some remote place beyond the Mississippi River, 
he there left them,* without any shelter to cover them, or food to 
sustain them. 

It was not long after these two hundred and nineteen Indians 
had been thus abandoned, before intelligence reached their friendi 
who remained at their homes in New York, that these deluded 
victims were in a perishing condition. The want of wholesome 
food, and the severe privations to which they were exposed, was 
followed by a malignant contagious fever, from which, it was 
represented, they were rapidly dying. As soon as this informa- 
tion reached their friends at Cattaraugus, the following letter, 
under directions of the Chiefs, was addressed to the Committee 
of Friends who had for some years before extended assistance tQ 
th»a6 Indiani. 



15 

Cattaraugus Eesektatio»j 21st Sept., 1846. 
**A sad and melancholy iDtelligence having been received 
from our friends, who removed from this State to the West last 
spring, representing that they were all dyin^^ off. eighteen or 
twenty having already died, and that those not dead were all sick. 
In consequence of the above information, the Cliiefs met on 
Saturday last, the 19th instant to consider the propriety of 
adopting some measures for their relief They directed me to 
ad(^ress you a letter, requesting your assistance in ascertaining, 
from the proper Department at Washington, whether the Govern- 
ment considers^ the Indians removed from this State last spring, 
are under its protection, in pursuance of the Treaty stipulations? 
I will state to you the reasons of this inquiry. The Chiefs have 
understood that the Government have disowned the acts and pro- 
ceedings of Hogeboam. If this is the case, the Chiefs are fearful 
that our Indians left at the West, are destitute of subsistence or 
means of support, and are dying for want of medical attendance 
to the sick. Please to inform us as early as may be convenient, 
of the result of these enquiries." 

I am, very truly, &c., 

NATHANIEL T. STRONG. 
To Philip E. Thomas, 

JSec. to the Committee, dx. 

The committee after consideration concluded to lay the fore-' 
going communication before the Commissioner of Indian affairs 
at Washington, and in reply the following letter was received 
from him : 

WAR DEPARTMENT, | 

Office of Indian Affairs, 2Sd Feh., 1847. j 

Sir: — The application- for the removal of the Seneca Indians 
back to New York, who emigrated west from there last sum- 
mer, has been duly considered. With every disposition to gra- 
tify the wishes of the Society of Friends, and of the New York 
Indians, so far as it could properly be done, I have to inform you 
that the Executive Department of the Government hfiS neither 
tlic authority nor the means to justify a compliance with their 



16 

desires. In this particular Congress only could autLorise the 
measure, and provide the requisite means for the expense it 
would involve. 

Respectfully your obedient servant, 

W. MEDILL. 

To Philip E. Thomas, Baltimore 

Upon ascertaining that no relief could be expected from the 
government, and that the relations and friends of those Indians 
were unable to afford their suffering kindred any effective aid, 
the committee after considering the deplorable condition to which 
those miserable people had become reduced, bjr the cruel decep- 
tion practiced upon them concluded to forward $500 for their 
immediate relief, and for the assistance of such of them as might 
desire to return and be in a condition to be removed ; and the 
Superintendent of the Friends' School at Cattaraugus, accompa- 
nied the agent employed to visit and aid them. 

Upon arriving at this Golgotha, it was ascertained that 
about one -half of Ihe 219 that had been inveigled away 
were already dead — that those yet living were in a most emaci- 
ated condition, and that among the survivors there was not one 
individual in good health ! 

Measures were immediately taken to collect and bring off all 
that were yet alive — some of whom died before they reached 
their former homes ; and among those that did return there were 
several suffering under a malignant Typhus fever, which being 
contagious was communicated to their friends, and spreading 
over the Reservation, carried a considerable number to their 
graves. Thus ended this, to the Indians, memorable enterprize 
of Doctor Hogeboam ! If the Doctor did not accomplish all that 
its projectors anticipated, he did succeed, so far as to relieve the 
pre-emptionists of near 200 of the encumbrances upon their 
''promised land," and by an effective emigration conducted them 
to a world whence they will never return. 

This appalling calamity produced a temporary calm among the 
Senecas, but a new subject of dissention was soon found in the 
provisions of a law, which at their own request, had been passed 



17 

by the Legislature of New York, for the protection of their tim- 
ber, and which conferred upon them the power to establish cer- 
tain municipal regulations adapted to their exigencies ; and it 
also prohibited the introduction of Spirituous Liquors among 
them. After some considerable contention, this excitement how- 
ever subsided. 

The execution of the fraudulent Treaty of 1838, by which the 
Senecas found themselves robbed of the last foot of soil that had 
descended to them from their forefathers, and the corrupt means 
by which this had been accomplished, finally extinguished the 
hereditary confidence the Indians had reposed in their Chiefs, 
and although a portion of their land had been restored to them 
by the compromise treaty of 1842, the wounds inflicted by the 
two previous treaties had never been healed. Not a few of the 
younger Indians had by this time received some education, their 
dormant intellectual faculties had been awakened — they had be- 
come enabled to see and understand their real situation, and were 
convinced that their ancient form of government was not adapted 
to the necessities of the nation in its present improved condition. 
Moreover, they had been taught by experience, the danger of 
placing power in the hands of irresponsible, venal men, who had 
been, and again might be seduced, and without their knowledge 
or consent, co-operate with, and assist an association of heartless 
speculators, in taking from them their homes, and driving them 
into some distant wilderness, to perish. They therefore resolved 
to reform their political Institutions. 

This conclusion was strengthened by the clear evidence before 
them, that there were still retained in their midst, stereotyped 
emissaries and spies, who had already once betrayed them, and 
who still continued to be in close communication with their un- 
slumbering and rapacious enemies, and they came to the fixed 
determination to abolish their existing form of government, and 
to divest their Chiefs of the arbitrary and irresponsible power 
they had assumed. 

Having come to this resolution, the nation assembled in gen- 
eral convention, at their Council house on the Cattaraugus Re- 
servation, in order to take into consideration their many grievan- 
3 



18 

ces, and after mature deliberation, adopted a free Representative 
Constitutional Republic, under the provisions of which, the ad- 
ministrators of their laws would be held responsible to their con- 
stituents, and be subject to removal, whenever the people might 
judge it necessary. 

There were many heavy complaints against the Chiefs, not 
only as regarded the payment of their Annuities, but also as re- 
spected the application and embezzlement of the public money, 
and other matters. Their offensive exertions to exercise an ab- 
solute authority, also occasioned much dissatisfaction, and, added 
to the general apprehension, that there was danger they might, 
by the same appliances that had induced them to sign the cor- 
rupt treaty of 1838, be again prevailed on to sell the public 
lands. 

As early as the year 1845, they presented a petition to the 
Legislature of New York, in which they say: "Let not our lands 
be taken from us. If our Chiefs can sell our Lands, the white 
buyers will come to the edge of our Reservation, with money 
and whiskey, and promises of Lands, and will call over the 
Chiefs one by one, and talk with them, and there will be a Coun- 
cil and a long talk; andw hen the Council has broken up. Chief 
after Chief will put his mark to some paper, in the woods, or in 
his Wigwam, or in some Grog shop, or Lawyer's office; and our 
children will have no land to stand on. These things have been ; 
let them be so no longer." 

"By your laws, if a man approach one of your Judges, 
Sheriff, or other public officers, with a bribe, to induce him by 
money, to violate his duty, or betray his trust, he is punished by 
fine and imprisonment. Give us and our Nation the benefit of 
such a law, to secure us against the intrigues of the white man, 
in his attempts to corrupt and defile our Chiefs, or any of our 
people. And in fine, provide for us plain and wholesome laws; 
such as we need, and your wisdom may decree." 

As a further measure to preserve the remnant of their Lands 
yet left, the Nation in a General Convention at Cattaraugus, 
duly assembled, on the 30th of the 1st month, 1845, adopted 
the following constitutional ordinance : 



19 

Whereas, the usage, practice and custom of the Seneca Nation 
of Indians, to sell and dispose of their Lands, by the consent and 
agreement of a majority of their Chiefs, without the express con- 
sent of the Warriors and people of the Nation, has, in these latter 
days of our weakness and limited Territory, given great uneasi- 
ness to our people, and created an apprehension among them, 
that while this power continues to be thus vested, our homes will 
be insecure. And, Whereas, our people have become impressed 
with the belief, that they and their children must be in continual 
fear that their Lands will be sold without their consent, and the 
deepest misery be entailed upon them and their posterity. And, 
Whereas, a General Council of the whole Nation, convened at 
the Council House at Cattaraugus Reservation, on the 28th day 
of January, 1845, for the purpose of considering this subject, 
and of so altering our political usages and organization, as after 
mature deliberation, it should be deemed wise and expedient. 

And, Whereas, also the Sachems, Chiefs, and head men of the 
said Nation^ duly assembled in Council, have, after full discussion 
and mutual deliberation, determined that the welfare of the Nation, 
and the security, prosperity and happiness of their people re- 
quire that the express assent of the Warriors and people, as well 
as of the Chiefs of the Nation, Bhould be necessary to a valid 
sole or disposition of their Lands. Therefore, we, the Chiefs and 
Representatives ©f the Seneca Nation of Indians, in such Gene- 
ral Council assembled, acting for, and in behalf, and by authori- 
ty of the said Nation, and in the exercise of the inalienable right 
of the said Nation, to alter and modify their political customs and 
usages, when it becomes necessary for their security, prosperity 
and happiness, do hereby, in the name and behalf, and by au- 
thority of the said Seneca Nation, 

Resolve, determine, ordain, publish and declare, that our po- 
litical usages, customs, organizations and constitution be, and the 
same are hereby altered and amended, so that no sale or dispo- 
sition of the whole or any part of our Lands, hereafter to be made, 
shall be valid, or of any effect, unless the same be made in full 
and open Council of the Chiefs and Warriors of the Nation, and 
by the express assent of two-thirds of all the Chiefs, and two- 



20 

thirds of tlie whole residue of the male population of the Nation, 
of the age of twenty-one years, and upwards, whether attending 
such Council or not ; such assent to be given in writing, under 
the hands and seals of the parties, in full and open Council of the 
Chiefs and Warriors of the Nation, assembled together in one 
Council; but nothing herein contained shall, in any manner, 
alter, change or effect, lessen or diminish the rights, powers du- 
ties, privileges or authority of the Chiefs in any other matter or 
respect whatever. And we do further 

Resolve and determine, that this ordinance or act of the Nation, 
be entered at length in the records of this Council, and that four 
copies thereof be signed by the Chiefs assenting thereto ; one of 
which copies shall be delivered to the President of the United 
States, with the request that the same may be deposited with the 
Archives of the United States ; one of which shall be presented 
to the Governor of this State, with a request that it be sanctioned 
by the State, and filed with its records ; one of which shall be 
presented to the Governor and Council of Massachusetts, with 
the request that it may be deposited among the Archives of that 
commonwealth, and kept in perpetual remembrance by its Gov- 
ernor and Council ; and the other of which shall be deposited and 
kept with the Archives and Records of the Seneca Nation. 

Done and signed in open Council, at Cattaraugus, the 30th day 
of January, 1845. 

. JOHN SENECA, 

And forty-nine other Chiefs. 



The following Memorials from the Seneca Women, afford fur- 
ther evidence of the dissatisfaction and uneasiness that the pro- 
ceedings of the Chiefs had produced, and their withdrawal of 
confidence from them : 

Memorial op the Seneca Women, to Philip E. Thomas. 
Cattaraugus Reservation, Oct, l^th, 1848. 
To our respected friend f Philip E. Tliovias. 

The Women of the Cattaraugus Reservation wish to address 
(to you a few words, in this time of our trouble, and we do so the 



21 

more cheerfully, because we know the Friends are always labor- 
ing to promote the welfare of the Females among the Indians, 
and to improve their condition. We would also request you to 
secure in our behalf, all the influence of the Society of Friends, 
so that our words may be strengthened and sufficiently powerful 
to be heard and regarded by the Secretary of War, and obtain from 
him the help which we desire. We wish you to inform the Sec- 
retary of War that we women have an equal right to our Annui- 
ties with the men, and with the Chiefs. We are all on the same 
footino: as to the amount we are entitled to receive — Chiefs and 
Warriors, men, women and children. We were glad when we 
heard that the Secretary had instructed our new Agent to pay 
the Annuities this year, to the heads of families. We see no 
other way by which our rights can be secured to us, and justice 
done alike to all. We hope you will urge the Secretary to con- 
firm his former instructions ; for we were greatly perplexed and 
troubled when the Agent was induced to delay the payment, on 
the ground that the Chiefs insisted on the observance of the old 
custom in regard to it. We ask for our just rights, and nothing 
more, but we repeat it that we do not feel that our rights will be 
safe if these instructions to the Agent shall be reversed. We 
regret that the Agent should have thought it necessary to delay 
a strict compliance with his instructions, but we do not yet feel 
disheartened, for we have confidence that the Secretary will 
manifest a due regard to our rights ; only we beg leave to repeat 
our request, that you will bring all the weight of your influence, 
and that of your society, to bear on this question, that he may be 
willing to confirm his former decision, and give every Indian — 
woman and child no less than others, the apportionment which 
of right belongs to each. 

And we would desire to add, that we have already suffered 
greatly from the proceedings of the Chiefs, through whose instru- 
mentality our poverty has been increasing upon us, and we wish to 
entreat that we may never again hereafter be exposed to be de- 
prived hy them of our rights, but that we and our children from 
time to time may be permitted to receive the full and proper 
share which rightfully belongs to us. (We are fully sensible 



that it is a hard case to have a difficulty with the Chiefs, but we 
feel that we have been wronged by them, and our children have 
suffered already, and for a long time past, through their avarice 
and pride,) and we believe the things they have said in justification 
of themselves are not true. (It is by our pain and sorrow that 
children are brought into the world, and we are therefore inte- 
rested in whatever concerns the welfare of our children. We 
have examined this subject, and we are satisfied that the party 
who are laboring to bring about an eqyal division of the whole 
of our Annuities, are the party really striving for the best inte- 
rests of our children.) We have taken the same view of the 
subject which was taken by the old men long since dead, who 
first entered into these arrangements. They declared that every 
individual, man, woman and child, had an equal right to our 
moneys and to our lands, in short, to all our national property ; 
that it was so from the beginning, and that it always should be 
so. We have taken the liberty to express our views, because we 
believe this to be the real truth, and we would earnestly advise 
the President_, and Secretary of War, to secure to us now, and to 
our posterity in all time to come, the fulfilment of the original 
stipulation, that as long as wood should grow or water run, or a 
Seneca live to behold the light of the sun, these Annuities should 
be faithfully paid and righteously distributed. 



With respect, your obliged friends, 

BETSEY SNOW, 
JULIA ANN X SNOW, 
JANE X SCOTT, 



GAANA X HOH, ^ ^ ^ 



POLLY X JOHNSON, 
MARTHA X PHILLIPS, 



w O 

go Cj 



O 



Done in presence 
Joseph 
AsHER Wright 



esence of ") 
S. Walton, >- 
Vright. 3 



jIemorial of tue Seneca Women to the Pi;esh)ent of the 
United States. 

To his Excellency General Zachary Taylor, President of the 
Udted States of America. 

The undersigned, mothers, heads of families, wives and grown 
up daughters of the Seneca Nation of Indians, residing in West^ 
3rn New York, respectfully represent to our Father, the Presi- 
lent, that we have heard with extreme regret that an educated 
oung man from among our sous and brothers, is at Washingtoa, 
mportuning the President to undo the good which has been done 
^or our people, by his predecessors, and to destroy the effect, so 
ar as the Senecas are concerned, of the wise regulation that a 
portion of all the Indian Annuities should be distributed just at 
seed time, every spring, in order to facilitate and encourage 
agriculture. We wish our sons to be industrious — to be in the 
field, stirring the soil betimes, procuring a bountiful harvest as 
the fruits of God's blessing upon their own honest exertions ; 
not leaving it for the women to raise the corn, as did their hunt- 
ing, fishing and fighting forefathers. The days of hunting and 
fishing, and we trust, of Indian fighting, are gone by forever, 
and it pains us exceedingly that an educated son of ours, and 
one too, who, if he would consult the well being of his people, 
might be so smart a man and useful, should now be trying, either 
of his own will, or under the direction of those whom, if they 
had sought the public good, we still would have rejoiced to call 
our Chiefs, to thwart the wishes of this people, check the pur- 
suits of agriculture, and bring embarrassing and perplexing 
want upon the destitute, who have been relying upon the stability 
of the United States Government for the relief of their necessi- 
ties. We have many, and to us, weighty reasons why our 
Father, the President, should not heed the petition of our son, 
whom we did not send to speak for us to the President ; but lest 
it should be thought that Indian women have tongues that never 
tire, we only add, that it is the earnest prayer of the undersigned, 
in their own behalf, and in behalf of a large majority of the 
mothers, wives and daughters of the Seneca Nation^ that the 



24 

recognition of the new government may be permitted to stand, 
and that we may be paid our Annuities according to the rule 
adopted in 1847, for the payment of all the Tribes receiving 
Annuities from the Government, i. e , during the current month ; 
and your memorialists as in duty bound, will ever pray. 

Signed by Gua-na-ea, and nineteen other females, and attested 
by Joseph S. Walton, 4th mo. 2d, 1849. 



In defiance of these reiterated manifestations of the public 
wishes, the recusant Chiefs, never for a moment relaxed their 
exertions to regain their former absolute power, and by their 
proceedings at home and their intrigues both at Albany and 
Washington, not unfrequently encouraged and assisted by their 
confederates of 1838, they succeeded in keeping the Nation in a 
state of perpetual agitation and disquietude. The pre-emptive 
claimants clearly perceived that under the existing constitutional 
government of the Indians, there would be no possibility of ob- 
taining possession of the Seneca Lands — it was therefore, to 
them, a matter of vital importance to promote the overthrow of 
that constitution, and to restore to the Chiefs the power they 
formerly held, and still claimed to exercise, of selling and con- 
veying away the lands of the people, with the houses they had 
built to shelter their wives and children, and the fields they had 
cleared and cultivated, for their sustenance. The people seeing 
this, and having no longer any confidence in these Chiefs, deter- 
mined to change their form of Government, and to establish one 
that would dispense with them altogether. Accordingly a con- 
vention of the whole people, including a very considerable num- 
ber of the Chiefs who had not participated in the iniquitous 
measures that had brought them to the brink of destruction, and 
who seeing the necessity of reform, were in favor of it, assem- 
bled at the council house, on the Cattaraugus Reservation, on 
the 4th of the 12tli month, 1848, for the purpose of taking their 
grievances into consideration. Finding a large majority of the 
people there assembled, favorable to the adoption of a Constitu- 
tional Republican Government, they proceeded with great unani- 
mity to adopt the following resolutions and declaration : 



25 
RESOLUTIONS 

Adopted hy the Convention of the Seneca Nation of IndianSf 
December 4th, 1848. 

Resolved^ That this Convention feel grateful for the religious 
and scientific instruction which benevolent societies and individu- 
als have bestowed upon us, as well as for the introduction of 
proper means among us for our improvement : and particularly do 
we desire to express our gratitude to -the Society of Friends > 
they were the first to introduce the means for our culture and im- 
provement, and laid the foundation of our education and civiliza- 
tion, by which means we have become wiser and more enlightened, 
and been enabled to see and understand our rights ; they also 
befriended and aided us when friendless, and without means to 
sustain ourselves in time of peril — always zealous and unremit- 
ting in their labors for our welfare. Also to the American Board 
of Commissioners, for Foreign Missions, in sending us missiona- 
ries and teachers to enlighten our minds and direct us to the 
true light, and teach us the plan of salvation : and also to the 
people of the State of New York, for their benevolent efforts in 
enacting laws for our protection and im23rovement, as well as for 
the large and generous appropriations made by them for the 
erection of school houses, and the payment of school teachers 
among our people, and we desire that these kind ofl&ces may be 
continued. 

Eesolved, That inasmuch as tve have abolished our former 
government ; that by so doing all appointments under that gov- 
ernment have now become annulled, therefore, 

Resolved, That the Seneca nation of Indians in this General 
Convention assembled, do hereby express their thanks to their 
friend and brother Sagaoh [Philip E. Thomas] of the city 
of Baltimore and State of Maryland, for the faithful discharge 
of his duties as representative of our nation (under our late gov- 
ernment) to the United States Government at Washington, and 
having undiminished confidence in his integrity and ability, we 
do hereby constitute and appoint him our embassador, under our 
new form of government,, to represent us, and to have charge r^f 
4 



26 

all the interests and affairs of the Seneca nation of Indians to 
the United States Government at Washington. 

Resolved, That as it is customary among our people that 
whenever any important event occurs in the history of any mem- 
ber of our nation, either by the natural transition from child- 
hood to manhooH, from warrior to chieftain, or from chieftain to 
sachem, therefore we declare, that in consequence of this change 
in our government and of his re-appointment under the new, and 
with the consent of the relatives of our friend Sagaoh, that the 
name Sagaoh shall cease to be his name, by which he was called 
and known among us, and that hereafter his nama shall be Hai- 
wa-noh (Embassador, representative, or Charge d' Affaires) be- 
cause he is to represent our nation and people, by which appel- 
lation he is henceforth to be known among us, and that the cere- 
mony of christening be unmediately performed. [Whereupon 
the ceremony of changing the former Indian name and christen- 
ing Philip E. Thomas, of Baltimore, was performed, according 
to our customs and usages, by Sa-dye-na-wa (John Hudson), 
and declared that the said Thomas may hereafter be known by 
the name of Hai-wa-noh. (Great sensation and applause of 
approbation.) 

Resolved, That the Clerk and President are hereby autho- 
rized and empowered to prepare the credentials of Hai-wa-noh, 
[Philip E. Thomas] our embassador, whom we have hereby con- 
stituted and appointed ; and forward the same to him as soon as 
practicable, together with the declaration, constitutional charter, 
and request him immediately to repair to the seat of the United 
States Government, and present them "to the proper authorities,. 
and also to notify him of the change of his name, and his ap- 
pointment as an officer of the government of the Seneca Nation 
of Indians, 

Resolved, That copies of the declaration, constitutional char- 
ter, and resolutions of this Convention be forwarded by the 
Clerk to the Joint Committee of the Society of Friends on In- 
dian Concerns, and to the Governors of the States of New York 
and Massachusetts, with the request that the same be put on file 
in the proper offices, and that our representative be requested to 



present copies of the same to the Congress of the United States, 
now couvened at Washington, and to the Secretary of War, 
with the request that the same be put on file in their respective 
departments. • 

RssoLYED, That we have unabated and undiminished confi- 
dence in the abilities and qualifications of the United States 
Interpreter (Peter Wilson) for this agency, having always dis- 
charged his duty faithfully, and that inasmuch as the late chiefs 
under our former government have petitioned for his removal, 
without just and reasonable cause, we hereby request our repre- 
sentative to protest and remonstrate against his removal. 

Resolved, That the Clerk be hereby instructed to prepare and 
forward copies of the doings and proceedings of this Conven- 
tion to the publishers of the Buffalo Commercial Advertiser, and 
the New York Tribune, with the request that the same be 
printed in their respective papers. 

I hereby certify that the above copy has been examined and 
compared with the original now on file in the archives of the 
Seneca Nation of Indians, by me, and is a correct transcript of 
the same, and of the whole of said resolutions passed by the 
General Convention. 

WILLIAM JEMERSON, 
Cleric of the Seneca Kation of Indians. 
Cattaraugus Reservation', Erie County, N. Y. 
December 5th, 18 43. 

Of the Seneca Nation of Indians, changing their form of Gov- 
ernment, and adopting a Constitutional Charter. 
We, the people of the Seneca Nation of Indians, by virtue of 
the right inherent in every people, trusting in the justice and 
necessity of our undertaking, and humbly invoking the blessing 
of the God of Nations upon our efforts to improve our civil con- 
dition, and to secure to our nation the administration of equita- 
ble and wholesome laws, do hereby abolish, abrogate and annul 
our form of Government by chiefs, because it has failed to an- 
swer the purposes for which all governments should be created. 



28 

It affords no security in the enjoyment of property, — ^it pro- 
Tides no laws regulating the institution of marriage, but tolerates 
polygamy. 

, It makes no provision for the poor, but leaves the destitute to 
perish. 

It leaves the people dependent on foreign aid for the means of 
education. 

It has no judiciary, nor executive departments. It is an irre- 
sponsible, self-constituted aristocracy. 

Its powers are absolute and unlimited in assigning away the 
people's rights, but indefinite and not exercised, in making mu- 
nicipal regulations for their benefit or protection. 

We cannot enumerate the evils growing out of a system so 
defective, nor calculate its overpowering weight on the progress 
of improvement. 

But to remedy these defects, we proclaim and establish the 
following Constitution or Charter, and implore the Governments 
of the United States and the State of New York, to aid in pro- 
viding us with laws under which progress shall be possible . 

Sec. 1. Our Government shall have a legislature, Executive 
and Judiciary departments. 

Sec. 2. The Legislative power shall be vested in a council of 
Eighteen members, who shall be termed the Councillors of the 
Seneca Nation, and who shall be elected annually on the first 
Tuesday of May in each year : and who shall be apportioned to 
«aoh Keservation according to its population, two-thirds of whom 
assembled in regular session and duly organized, shall constitute 
a quorum, and be competent for the transaction of business ; but 
to all bills for the appropriation of public moneys, the assent of 
two thirds of the members elected shall be necessary in order 
that the bill should become a law. 

Sec. 3. The Executive power shall be vested in a President, 
whose duty it shall be to preside at all meetings of the council, 
having only a casting vote therein : and to see that all laws are 
faithfully executed : and to communicate to the council at every 
session a statement of the condition of the national business, and 
ito recommend for the action of the council such matters as he 



may deem expedient. In the absence of the President, the coun- 
cil may choose a presiding officer j)/'o tempore. 

Sec. 4. The judiciary power shall be vested in three Pea,ce 
Makers on each Reservation; any two of whom shall have power 
to hold courts, subject to an app^^al to the council, and to such 
courts or the State of New York as the Legislature thereof shall 
permit. The jurisdiction, forms of process and proceeding in 
the Peace Makers' Courts shall be the same as in courts of the 
justices of the Peace of the IState of New York, except in the 
proof of wills, and the settlement of deceased person's estates, 
in which cases the Peace Makers shall have such power as shall 
be conferred by law. • 

Skc. 5. All causes of which the Peace Makers have not juris- 
diction, may be heard before the Council or such courts of the 
State of New l^ork as the Legislature thereof shall permit. 

Sec. 6. The power of making Treaties shall be vested in the 
Council, but no Treaty shall be binding upon the Nation, until 
the same shall be submitted to the people, and approved by three- 
fourths of all the legal voters, and also by three fourths of all 
the mothers in the Nation. 

Sec. 7. There shall be a Clerk and Treasurer, and Superin- 
tendent of Schools, and overseers of the poor, and Assessors, 
and overseers of Highways, whoso duties shall be regulated by 
law. 

Sec. 8. Every officer who shall be authorized to receive pub- 
lic money, shall be required to give such security as the Presi- 
dent and the attorney for the Seneca Nation shall approve. 

Sec 9. There shall be a Marshall and two Deputies on each 
Reservation (Cattaraugus and Allegany.) who shall execute all 
processes ♦issued by the courts, and do such other duties as shall 
be prescribed by law. 

Sec. 10. All officers named in this constitution or charter 
shall be chosen at the same time, in the same manner and for 
the same term as members of the council, and vacancies occur- 
ing in any office shall be filled in the manner to be prescribed by 
law, and every male Indian of the age of twenty-one years and 
tup wards, either residing on one of the Reservations (the Catta- 



so 

raugiis, Allegany, or Oil Spring,) or owning, possessing and 
occupying any lands upon either of said Reservations, and 
wliich lands may have been taxed for highways or other pur- 
poses, shall be entitled to vote at all elections. 

Sec. 11. Any legal voter shall be eligible to any office named 
in this Constitution or Charter, and all officers elect shall be in- 
ducted into office, and if necessary shall be impeached, by the 
use of such forms and regulations as shall be prescribed by law. 

Sec 12. The compensation of members of the Council shall 
be one Dollar each per day, while in session ; but no member 
shall receive more than twenty-six Dollars during any one year. 
The compensation of all the officers shall be prescribed by law. 

Sec. 13. The council shall meet annually on the first Tuesday 
of June, and Extra Sessions may be convened by the President 
at any time he shall think proper. 

Sec. 14. The council shall have power to make any laws not 
inconsistent with the Constitution of the United States or of the 
State of New York. 

Sec. 15. All offiBnces which shall not be punishable by the 
laws of the United States or of the State of New York, shall be 
tried and punished in the Peace Makers' Court, or before the 
council as shall be prescribed by law. 

Sec. 16. The rights of any member of the ancient Confede- 
racy of the Iroquois, to the occupancy of our lands and other 
privileges shall be respected as heretofore ; and the council shall 
pass laws regulating for the admission of any Indian of other 
tribes or nations, to citizenship and adoption into the Seneca Na- 
tion of Indians by his or her application for his or herself or 
family. 

Sec. 17. This Charter may be altered or amended by a coun- 
cil of the people convened for that purpose on three montl>s pre- 
vious notice, by a vote of two-thirds of the legal voters present 
a,t such convention. 

Sec. 18. The Saw Mills on the different Reservations now in 
operation, are hereby declared to be National property, and the 
funds accruing therefrom shall be by the Council appropriated to 
National purposes. But nothing in this charter shall be con- 



31 

strued as prohibiting the erection of Mills and other works for 
manufacturing or other purposes, by any private individual upon 
his own premises, provided that in so doing he do not trespass 
upon the rights of any other individual ; and all such erections 
by individuals shall be respected as strictly private property. 

Sec. 19. The laws passed by the Legislature of the State of 
New York for the protection and improvement of the Seneca 
Nation of Indians, and also all laws and regulations heretofore 
adopted by the chiefs in legal council assembled, shall continue in 
full force and effect as heretofore, except so far as they are incon- 
sistent with the provisions of this Constitution or Charter, 

Sec 20. And in order to carry this form of Government into 
effect, we hereby provide and declare that Solomon McLane shall 
be President, and that John Cook, George Deer, John Green 
Blanket, John Bennett, Charles Kennedy, Little Joe, George 
Green Blanket, Andrew John, and John Luke, shall be mem- 
bers of the council, and that William Jemerson shall be clerk, 
and Andrew John Treasurer of the Nation, and John Hudson 
Superintendent of Schools, and Joe White, John Tallchief and 
John Shanks Overseers of the poor, and Peter Snow, Solomon 
Oba;l, and Thomas Shango Assessors, and Joseph Dudley, Ste- 
phen Silverheel, and John Pierce Overseers of the Highways, 
and Stephen Siverheel, Marshall, and Wm. Logan and Allen 
Jimeson Deputy Marshalls, and John Kennedy, jr., John Hud- 
son and John Cook Peace Makers for the Cattaraugus Reserva- 
tion. 

iind that Solomon W. MacLane shall be superintendent of 
Schools, and David Shango, Robert Watt, Benjamin Lewis, 
Peter Jimeson, John Snyder, Hamilton Shango, Mash Pierce, 
James Long John, and Jabez Jones Councilors, and John King, 
John Jimeson, Samuel Jones, Overseers of the poor, and Benja- 
min Williams, Jesse Plummer, and Dodge Fatty, Assessors, and 
Joseph W. Pierce, John Taylor, and Peter John Overseers of 
the Highways, and Ruben Jackson, Marshall, and James Tandy, 
Bush Pierce Deputy Marshalls, and Samuel W. Patterson, Tandy 
Jimeson, and Benjamin Pierce, Peace Makers for the Allegany 
Reservation, — until the election of officers on the first Tuesday 
of May next. 



32 



Done in a general council of the people lield at the Council House 
on the Cattaraugus Reservation, on the 4th day of December, 
A. 1). 1848. 

S. McLANE, Chairman. 

WM. JEMEKSON, Clerk. 



(Signed by the representatives of the people of the Seneca' 



Nation of Indians ) 
Andrew Snow, 
John x Baldwin, 
Allen X Jimeson, 
Joei X Sundown, 
Jack X Kenjockedey, 
Henry x Philips, 
John X Jones, 
John X Tallchief, 
Henry x Jacobs, 
Young X Jackson, 
Allen X Snow, 
John X Shanks, 
Paul X Peter, 
Andrew x Fox, 
Wm. X Spencer, 
Philip X Kenjockedey, Sr. 
James x Gordon, 
John X Wilson, 
Foster x Turkey, 
Major X Harris, 
Young X Farmer, 
Henry x Moses, 
Thomas x Shango, 
Joseph X Jimeson, 
John X Deer, 
John X Stephens, 
George x Green, 
Solomon x Obail, 
Young X Joe, 



David X Isaac, 
John X Bark, 
John X General, 
John X Cattercook, 
Big X Chief, 
Jimy X Cornplanter, 
Thomas x Snow, 
Peter x Snow, 
John X Jimeson, 
Old X Hemlock, 
Wm. X Ruben, 
Young X General, 
John X Bennett, 
Little X Joe, 
David X Button^ 
John X Dick, 
John X Spruce, 
Joe X Logan, 
Charles Kennedy, 
Wni. X Logan, 
John X Greenblanket, 
George x Deer, 
Stephen Silverheels, 
John X Luke, 
Capt. X Jackson, 
George x Jimison, 
David X Greenblanket, 
Abram x Johnnyjohn, 
Peter x Johnson, 



John X Pierce, George x White, 

John Hudson, John x Joe, 

Alexander x Tallchief, Thomas x Half white, 

William x Tallchief, Lafayette x Brooks, 

David X Shango, Thomas B. Graybeard, 

Wm. X John, Joseph x Dudley, 

John X Cook, Lorenzo x Sundown. 

I hereby certify that the above Copy- has been examined and 
compared with the original now on file in the archives of the 
Seneca Nation of Indians by me, and is a correct transcript of 
the same and of the whole of said Declaration, Constitution and 
Charter. 

WILLIAM JEMERSON, Clerk of the 

Seneca Nation of Indians. 

Cattaranrjus Reservation, Erie Co., N.Y., 
Dec. 6th, 1848. 



Sir: — 

You are hereby nominated, constituted, and appointed 
an Embassador, Envoy Extraordinary, and Minister Plenipoten- 
tiary to the seat of Government of the United States of America, 
by the constitutional Convention and Government of the Seneca 
Nation of Indians, residing in the State of New York, to repre- 
sent them in their names and behalf, with full powers and privi- 
leges of said office to take charge of the interests and affairs of 
your Government and Nation : and whatever you may do in our 
names and behalf will be binding upon us, and of the same 
effect as if we had been present and consenting thereto ; and you 
are hereby authorized and empowered to proceed with the bui^i- 
ness of your nation as they shall from time to time direct, and 
as you may deem just and proper. 

You are also hereby authorized and requested to proceed im- 
mediately to the seat of the United States Government, and pre- 
sent this, your credentials, to the proper authorities. 

You arc also informed that your official duties commences with 
5 



34 

the date of this commission and appointment as an officer of the 
Seneca Nation of Indians. 

By order of the Convention, and Government of the Seneca 
Nation of Indians. 

S. McLANE, President. 
WILLIAM JEMERSON, Clerh. 
Cattaraugus Reservation, Erie Co., N. Y., Dec. UJi, 1848. 
To HAI-WA-NOH, {Philip E! Tliomas,) 

Bmhassador, &c. &c.^ Baltimore, Md. 



An authenticated copy of these proceedings was forwarded by 
the officials of the Seneca Nation, to their Representative, with 
a request that he would lay them before the Indian Bureau at 
Washington, and endeavor to obtain the recognition of the 
Representative Republican Government, adopted by the Senecas. 
The Chiefs who had been removed from power by this revolu- 
tionary proceeding, also appealed to the United States Govern- 
ment for aid in suppressing this innovation upon their ancient 
usages and institutions. The commissioner of Indian affairs, 
being sincerely desirous to promote their best interests, without 
regard to party names, or party measures, promptly wrote to the 
sub-agent, near Cattaraugus, for such information as might qua- 
lify the department to come to a sound judgment in the case. 
His letter was dated 22nd December, 1848, and contained the 
following instructions : 

War Department, Office of Indian Affairs, \ 
Decemler 22nd, 1848. J 

*• Enclosed is a communication from Philip E. Thomas, of 
Baltimore, one of the excellent benevolent Friends of the New 
York Indians, enclosing Documents sent to him by these Indians, 
purporting to embody proceedings changing their form of Gov- 
ernment, and appointing Mr. Thomas their special Agent or 
Representative, to superintend and conduct their business and 
relations with the United States. I transmit also a copy of a 
letter to Mr. Thomas, of this date, from which you will perceive 
the present views of the Department in relation to the proceed- 



35 

ings referred to, and tlie reason of the transmission of tlie accom- 
panying papers to you. You will please enquire into the whole 
subject, and report how far the sentiments and feelings of the 
Indians are represented by, and embodied in these proceedings — 
how the Convention, adopting them, was constituted — if by 
Delegates, how they were selected, and whether the Indians of 
the several Reservations were fairly represented in the Conven- 
tion. You will also please to ascertain and report to what extent 
there is, or probably will be, opposition to the change in the form 
of Grovernment — by what class or classes of the Indians it is, or 
will be made, and the probable reasons of such opposition, and 
any other facts or circumstances necessary to put the Department 
in possession of full information on the subject. 

Kespectfully, &c., 

WM. MEDILL." 

R. 11. Shankland, Suh-Agent, 

Ellicottsville, N. Y. 



In his reply toljje foregoing instructions, the Sub- Agent of the 
New York Indians, states: — "In pursuance of the instructions 
contained in your communications of the 22nd December last, I 
have the honor to report that I have sought information from 
various quarters, on the several Reservations, in relation to the 
subject of changing the form of Government of the Seneca Na- 
tion of Indians, which^ in addition to a personal knowledge of 
their feelings and wishes, obtained during my official intercourse 
with them, enables me to state the following facts, and to arrive 
at the conclusion, that a majority of the Indians residing on the 
Cattaraugus and Allegany Reservations, are in favor of a change 
in tlieir present form of Government. 

"For two or three years or more, past, a contest has been 
going on between the Chiefs and Warriors on the Allegany Re- 
servation, in relation to the rents of the saw-mills and other 
National property on that Reservation ; the proceeds charged by 
the Warriors to have been wronsfullv appropriated by the 
Chiefs. 



30 

'' Some time in July or August last, a letter was written bj 
one Benjamin Williams, a resident of the Allegany Reservation, 
addressed to the Warriors on the Cattaraugus Reservation, pur- 
porting to have been done at the request of a Council of the 
Warriors, inciting them to action, and referring the time of 
meeting and preliminaries to the Cattaraugus Warriors, and 
agreeing to act in accordance with their decision, and at their 
call." 

. "This letter embraced, as I am credibly informed, many of 
the points of grievance set forth in the papers transmitted to the 
Department, through Mr. Thomas, of Maryland. This was the 
first formal action by the people, to effect a change in their Gov- 
ernment. About the time of the payment of their Annuities, 
last fall, at Cattaraugus, which closed on ihQ 23d of November, 
the Warriors on the Reservation, came to the conclusion not to 
delay any longer the action contemplated by that letter." 

"Timely notice was no doubt given, but whether general, it 
is difficult to determine. I am also credibly informed, that the 
Chiefs and those that were opposed to the new form of govern- 
ment, had spies in attendance at said Convention, who took no 
part in its deliberations. The Cattaraugus ^^ecas were repre- 
sented in mass, but the real number present, I am unable to 
state, or whether the Allegany delegates were chosen by primary 
meetings of the people or not. I presume, however, that the 
Cattaraugus people held no primary meetings, from the fact that 
they met in the very way that they did. The Allegany dele- 
gates had power probably vested in them, to represent the War- 
riors and Chiefs^ as above stated. I find it a difficult matter to 
ascertain this, as from their mode of procedure, they are inclined 
to keep their counsels to themselves, much better than white 
people." 

"Opposition to the new government comes mostly from the 
Chiefs, and their friends and retainers, and they are not entirely 
without influence. Many of them are men of education and tal- 
ent, and are indefatigable in their exertions to sustain themselves 
in their places and power. Their reasons for ojyposinga change 
in the present form of government, of coursu is not known — con- 



jccture can only assign a motive. They are, however, decidect 
and unyielding in their position. In adjusting their difficulties, 
it seemed proper and just that a misjority should decide the 
controversy." 

"In conclusion, I would remark, that some change for the 
better seems to be necessary for their well being and happiness, 
but of the nature of that change, it is not for me to express an 
opinion, neither do I feel competent to point out the right way. 
They are capable of deciding for themselves. In my official 
intercourse with them, I have avoided taking any part, or ex- 
pressing any opinion, in regard to their political opinions. I 
have taken some pains to ascertain the wishes of the nation gene- 
rally, and I can come to no other conclusion, than a majority of 
the people desire a change, and are willing, to try the experiment, 
of living under the constitution and laws, adopted in Convention^ 
at Cattaraugus." 

I am very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

R. H. SHANKLAND. 
Hon. W. Medill, Com. In. Affairs, 
Washington, D. C. 



"Wah Department, Office of Indian Affairs, ] 
February 2d, 1849. j 

Sir:— 

"I enclose for your information, a copy of a letter of this date, 
to Sub- Agent, Shankland, from which you will perceive, that the 
new form of Government adopted by the New York Indians on 
the Cattaraugus and Allegany Reservations will be recognised 
by the Department, and conformed to in its transactions with 
them, and that you will be recognized and respected as their 
friend, and the representative of their wishes and interests." 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

WM. MEDILL, Commissioner, &c. 
PniLir E. Thomas, Balto. Md. 



38 

War Department, Office of Indian Affairs, | 
February Id, 1849. j 

Sir:— 

"Your Report of the 24tli inst. has just been received. The 
new form of Government of the Indians on the Cattaraugus and 
Allegany Reservations having been adopted by a majority, will 
be recognized by the Grovernment, and so far as may be necessa- 
ry, the relations of the Government with those Indians will be 
made to conform thereto. And as requested by them, Philip E. 
Thomas, of Baltimore, will be recognized as their friend, and as 
the representative of their wishes and interests." 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

WM. MEDILL« 
R. H. Shankland, Sub Indian Agt. 
Ellicottsville, N. Y. 



The remonstrance and appeal of the Chiefs against the adop- 
tion of the new Seneca Constitutional Government^ and their 
protest against withholding the payment of the Indian Annuities 
from them, with their objections to these Annuities being paid, 
_per capita, directly to the Indian families by the United States 
sub-agent, having been addressed to the President, were, by him 
referred to the Secretary of War. who, at that time, was at the 
head of the Indian Bureau. After full enquiry and careful con- 
sideration, the Secretary stated his conclusion on the matter to 
Maris B.Pierce, who had been delegated by the Chiefs to present 
their Memorial. The following extract from which, will show 
his decision: 

War Department, Feh. UtJi, 1849. 
Sir:— 

"The President has referred to this Department the two Me- 
morials laid before him by you — one purporting to be from the 
'Chiefs of the Seneca Nation,' and the other from the 'Warriors of 
the Seneca Nation,' protesting against the order requiring the 
Annuities due from the United States to the Seneca Indians to 
be paid over to the heads of families, in equal proportions, ac- 
cording to the number of persons in each family ; desiring the 
abrogation of that order, and that the Annuities be paid as here- 



39 

tofore, into the hands of the Chiefs ; and also alleging and pro- 
testing against interference on the part of the United iStates, 
with their form of government and the mode of administering 
their internal and domestic affairs. These generally expressed, are 
the subjects presented in the two Memorials in question ; which, 
with the statements and arguments in support of them, have been 
duly considered, and I am directed by the President to give the 
following answer thereto :" 

' 'It is contended that the mode of paying the Annuities re- 
quired by the order above referred to, is contrary to Treaty 
stipulations, and in violation of agreements subsisting between 
the United States and the Senecas, and of an Act of Congress, 
passed in 1834, which is alleged, required the Annuities to be 
paid to the "Chiefs, or to such persons as we (they) should appoint " 
As no Treaty or article of a Treaty, nor any particular agree- 
ment between the General Government and the Senecas is re- 
ferred to, it is sufficient to say, that the Department is not aware 
of any, prescribing and defining any special and particular mode 
of paying the Annuities." 

"The allegations in the Memorials respecting the authorities 
of the United States having interfered with the form of Govern- 
ment and in the administration of the domestic affairs of the 
Senecas, are wholly erroneous. They have carefully abstained . 
from any such interference, leaving the Senecas to settle such 
matters among themselves. In conducting and managing our 
relations with them, it is the duty of the Government to endea- 
vor to do so in such manner as will best subserve and promote- 
the interests and welfare of the whole, or if this be not possible, 
at least, of the majority; and in doing so, it is no less a duty to 
recognize and deal with those who fairly represent a fair majori- 
ty, whether they be Chiefs or persons acting in some other proper 
official capacity. It was made known to the Department that a 
majority of the Senecas, animated by the spirit of the age, as 
they are well capable of being, from their great advancement in 
civilization, and desirous of a more popular and representative 
form of Government, like that enjoyed by their white brethren 
around them, had deliberately determined upon a change, with 
the view of effecting that object. A formal written Constitution 



40 

and Organic Laws, poviding for a new form of Government, was 
accordingly sent to the Department for approval and for a re- 
cognition of the persons elected and appointed under it, as the 
proper representatives and authorities of the Tribes. The De- 
partment deferred any definite action upon the matter until it 
could ascertain^ in the best manner in its power, how far the pro- 
posed change was in conformity with the views «»f the Senecas 
generally, or a fair majority of them. The papers were acccord- 
ingly sent to the Sub-Agent, who must be deemed to be entirely 
impartial with reference to any divisions among the Senecas, with 
specified instructions to make careful enquiries on the above 
point, and to report the result. This duty he seems to have per- 
formed with a sincere desire to arrive at the truth, and from his 
report, and the information derived from those representing the 
Society of Friends, there seemed to be no doubt that there was 
clearly a majority in favor t)f the change." 

" This being the case, and, as promised, a reasonable time 
being given for the opposing parties to be heard from, consider- 
ing the importance to the peace and tranquility of the Indians, 
of some early definite action upon the subject, there seemed to 
be no reasonable or fair alternative to deciding to recognize those 
elected and appointed under the new form of Government as the 
authorized representatives and authorities, of those living on the 
Cattaraugus and Allegany Reservations, so far as the manage- 
ment of our relations with them were concerned. Further than 
this the Department did not go; it exercised no influence to 
bring about the change, and neither expressed or intimated any 
opinion as to its expediency or propriety. 

Respectfully your obedient servant, 

WM. L. MARCY." 
Maris B. Pierce, 

Of the Seneca Nation of Indians. 



It might reasonably have been expected that the Ex-Chiefs, 
upon this deliberate and final decision by the authorities of the 
United States, to recognize and sustain the Constitutional Repub- 
lican form of Government, adopted by a majority of the Seneca 



41 

people, after the most deliberate and legitimate proceeding!?, 
would have been acquiesced in, and that no furtlier opposition 
would be made by tlie rejected Cliiefs, but goaded by their loss 
of power, they determined to persevere in their endeavors to 
overthrow it They sent a Deputation to Albany, in order to 
induce the Government of New York to refuse any connexion 
with the Seneca Nation, under its new aspect. After a thorough 
investigation of the subject by a committee of the Assembly, the 
following resolutions were adopted by both branches of the Legis- 
lature, to wit: 

" Resolved, That the recognition by the Government of the 
United States, of the new Constitutional Government lately 
formed by the Indians residing on the Cattaraugus and Allegany 
Reservations, establishes the New Government as that which the 
State of New York must receive and acknowledge in its dealings 
with the said Indians, and that the Officers of this State ought, 
and are hereby instructed to respect such new Government ac- 
cordingly. 

Resolved, That in future the Annuity which, under the Treaty 
with the Senecas, is made payable to the Chiefs of that Nation, 
hereafter be paid by the Treasurer, or on the warrant of the 
Comptroller, to the order of such officer or agent, as shall, under 
said New Constitution be appointed to receive the same and give 
proper discharge therefor." 

In a communication from the President of the Seneca Nation, 
addressed to the Committee of the Society of Friends, who had 
on several occasions assisted them in their times of difficult}^ and 
trouble, after referring to the favorable change that had taken 
place in their condition and circumstances, he says: " Thus after 
careful inquiry and mature deliberation, the constituted authori- 
ties both of the Government of the United States and of tlie 
State of New York, have solemnly recognized the Repiiblic of the 
Seneca Nation, as the true and legitimate source of power and 
authority for their Government. Under that Constitution wo 
have now been enjoying all the blessings of civil and religious 
liberty for nearly two years. The Ex-Chiefs, who by the late 
Revolution, were deprived of official authority, have constantly 
6 



42 

kept up an organized opposition to the New Government, with a 
view to drive back the Nation to its former inefficient and irre- 
sponsible system. They can have no honorable motive for such 
opposition. They enjoy the same protection, the same civil 
rights, the same eligibility to office, in fine all the rights and im- 
munities of the rest of the Nation. But depraved by a long 
course of corruption, they cannot endure a change, (however 
beneficial to the commonwealth,) which deprives them of the 
power they so greatly abused, and therefore by every unworthy 
artifice, and the grossest misrepresentations, they endeavor to 
deceive the public as well as our own people. To this opposi- 
tion we believe they are prompted by corrupt as well as ambi- 
tious motives. We know that some of them now receive Annu- 
ities as the reward of their former treachery, in the fraudulent 
transfer of the National Domain to the Ogden Land Company ; 
and it is generally believed that these annual payments are made 
in anticipation of future services, as well as in payment for past 
treasons. 

"Under the New Constitution the Seneca Nation is success- 
fully pursuing the great objects of all good Governments. Al- 
ready enjoying a full and adequate protection of person and pro- 
perty — with Institutions for the scientific and religious improve- 
ment of our people — with the generous patronage of the General 
and State Governments, we have nothing more to desire but a 
fair and uninterrnjyted opportunity to carry out our new system 
of Government, and nothing further to ask of the public authori- 
ties, but their continued protection against the arts and intrigues 
of those who desire our destruction." 
Signed, 
ZECHARIAH L. JIMESON, President 

of the Seneca Nation of Indians. 
Wm. JemersON, Secretary. 



To the honor of the noble State of New York it should be re- 
corded in perpetuam rei memoriam, that the Aborigines of our 
country, who have sought and found protection within her bor- 
ders, have been treated with humanity and kindness. It is be- 



43 

lleved she is now tlie only State of the original thirteen that 
founded this republic, in which there remains a political orga- 
nized body of native Indians. Even in the State of Pennsyl- 
vania, so much lauded for her magnanimity and justice to the 
natives, it is believed there is not one foot of land now owned or 
occupied by an Indian ! 

New York alone may proudly claim the honor of affording to 
several Bands of them, resting places and security; she has 
moreover established schools for the education of their children, 
and under her fostering protection, they have been instructed 
and led into the habits and comforts of civilized life. She has 
bountifully assisted in the support of the schools established by 
her, and has founded among them, an orphan asylum, which now 
shelters not less than fifty destitute children, for the support of 
whom she munificently contributes. — si sic omnia. 

Under this fostering care of the State of New York, and the 
friendly protection the Senecas have uniformly received from the 
Indian Bureau at Washington, they have, although often har- 
rassed by the intrigues of heartless Land Speculators, aided by 
Traitors among themselves, gone on steadily to improve in their 
moral, social and intellectual condition. A considerable num- 
ber of them have erected, and occupy substantial dwelling houses, 
surrounded by commodious barns, orchards, gardens and well culti- 
vated productive grain growing fields and meadow grounds. They 
have on the Cattaraugus Reservation, several respectable houses 
for public worship — not less than five schools, which are attended 
by their youth very generally, and they have an orphan asylum 
where their destitute children are well taken care of, and receive 
school education. The people in the country around them are 
kindly disposed towards them, but they have enemies, and among 
the worst of them " are the men of their own house," aided and 
corrupted by extraneous influences. These enemies are impla- 
cable, and neither the reiterated defeats that have attended their 
attempts to destroy the Constitutional Government, nor the re- 
peated proofs they have had, that they no longer possessed the 
confidence of the Nation, appears to have deterred them from a 
reckless determination to persevere in their endeavors to recover 



44 

their former arbitrary, irresponsible power to overrule the peo- 
ple, and be enabled again to enricb themselveS;, as they heretofore 
have done, without the knowledge or consent of the occupants, 
and to despoil them of the farras they had cleared and enclosed for 
the procuring of sustenance for their wives and children, and the 
houses they had built to shelter them, and turn them adrift to 
seek a habitation where best they might find one. 

Accordingly when President Pierce came into office, and a 
change had been made in the several Executive appointments, 
they renewed their efforts at Washington to obtain the aid of the 
United States Government towards restoring themselves to pow- 
er. The new Secretary of the Interior, who is at the head of the 
Indian Bureau, and to whom their application was referred, be- 
ing desirous to obtain more knowledge than he then possessed of 
the circumstances of these Indians, applied to the Commissioner 
of Indian aifairs for information, before he v^'ould act, and received 
from that Department the following reply, viz : 

Department of the Interior, \ 

Office Indian Affairs, Ma^ Ibth, 1854. J 
JSir: 

I acknowledge the receipt by reference from you, of the Me- 
morial of the Chiefs of the Seneca Nation of Indians to the Presi- 
dent of the United States, respecting the form of Government 
established in that Nation and recognized by this Department a 
few years ago, with a request that a report be made thereon. 

The facts of the case, so far as they appear from the Records 
of the office, are as follows : 

In the month of December, 1848, Philip E. Thomas, of 
Baltimore, presented to this office the proceedings of a Conven- 
tion of the Seneca Indians in New York, changing their form of 
Government — adopting a written Constitution or Organic Law — 
appointing Officers under it — and constituting Mr. Thomas their 
special Agent or Representative to superintend their business 
and relations with the United States. Simultaneously with the 
presentation of these Documents, the President of the United 
States received a communication from the Chiefs of the Seneca 



45 

Nation, remonstrating against the recognition of tlie new Govern- 
ment, and requesting a suspension of action thereupon until the 
whole subject should be laid before this Government. 

Under these circumstances it was deemed advisable by the 
then Commissioner of Indian Affairs to abstain from any interfe- 
rence with the domestic affViirs of the Senecas, either for the 
purpose of establishing the new Government, or of sustaining the 
old one; but to recognize and real with that one which might 
appear to be the fairly expressed choice of a fair majority of the 
Nation. Notice of this determination was accordingly given to 
lUr. Thomas, and to the Chiefs, and the papers were sent to 
11. H. Shankland, Esq., who was then Sub-Agent for the New 
York Indians, with instructions to enquire fully into the whole 
subject, and make report to this office. 

On the 2d of February, 18-19, along and elaborate report was 
received from the Sub- Agent, Shankland, in which he states that 
the Senecas are located upon three different Reservations, viz : 
the Allegany, the Cattaraugus, and the Tonawanda ; (the last 
named Keservation claimed by the Ogden Company, which, 
however, has no connection with the present controversy;) 
that for several years preceding the organization of the new form 
of Government, there had been some misunderstanding, and a 
growing difficulty between the Seneca Chiefs and the Warriors 
on the Allegany Reservation, respecting the rents of the Saw 
Mills and other property on that Reservation ; that in July or 
August, 1848, one Benjamin Williams, a resident on Allegany 
Reservation, addressed a letter, purporting to be by order of a 
Council of Warriors, to the Warriors on the Cattaraugus Reser- 
vation, urging themio action in the premises; that at the pay- 
ment in November of the same year, the Cattaraugus Warriors 
resolved to take the action indicated in the beforementioned letter, 
and sent a messenger to the Allegany Senecas to notify them 
thereof, and to request their attendance at a Convention, to be 
held on the Cattaraugus Reservation ; that this Convention was 
held a few days afterwards, and was attended .by five Delegates 
on behalf of the Allegany Senecas, and by the Cattaraugus Sene- 
cas en masse : — Some of the Tonawanda Senecas being present. 



46 

but refused to participate in tlie proceedings ; that the Conven- 
tion adopted the Constitution before referred to, and instituted 
the new form of Government ; that he believed a majority of the 
Indians on the Allegany and Cattaraugus Reservations were in 
favor of the new Government ; that in making the payments he 
found that those who received their per capita shares of the mon- 
ey, were in favor of the new Government, and those who were 
opposed thereto declined to receive ; that opposition to the new 
order of things came principally from the Chiefs and their friends 
and relations, who exercised considerable influence, &c. &c. 

After considering this report, and examining the case, Hon. 
Wm. L. Marcy, Secretary of War, under the direction of the 
President, informed the representative of the Chiefs, on the 14th 
of February, 1849, that this Government had decided to recog- 
nize those elected and appointed under the new form of Govern- 
ment, as the authorized representatives of those (Senecas) living 
upon the Allegany and Cattaraugus Reservations, so far as the 
management of our relations with them was concerned. 

On the 13th of March, 1849, the Commissioner of Indian Af- 
fairs reported to Hon. Thomas Ewing, then Secretary of the 
Interior, the nature of the proceedings among the Indians, and 
the action thereupon by this Department, and suggested the pro- 
priety of tranGmittlng the same to the proper authorities of New 
York; — Resolutions relative to the matter being then under 
consideration in the Legislature of that State. What action, if 
any, was taken by the Department of the Interior in reference to 
the suggestion made in this report, I havs not been able to ascer- 
tain ; but on the 2d of May, 1850, President Taylor wrote to 
the Chiefs of the Seneca Nation, in response to an address pre- 
sented by them, that inasmuch as the new form of Government 
had been recognized by the proper Depirrtment here, as well as 
by the State of New York, and because he was not satisfied that 
a return to the old Government by Chiefs would be advantageous 
to the Senecas, he would not interfere in the matter. And on 
the 16th day of December following, Mr. Secretary Stuart, in 
answer to a Memorial from the new Government party, present- 
ed by their Agent, Philip E. Thomas, stated, " That the Presi- 



47 

dent had no desire to intermeddle with their form of Government, 
so hmg as it meets the approbation of the Indians themselves, 
and protects them in the enjoyment of their rights and property ;" 
and after exhorting them to elect good men for their officers — 
to make suitable provisions for the support of the feeble and the 
orphan — and to distribute their Annuities with justice, he informs 
them that, "So long as they do this, the President directs me 
to say, that he shall stand by and sustain them and their Govern- 
ment." 

In 1852, a Memorial purporting to come from " a committee 
of safety " on behalf of the Seneca Nation, was presented to the 
President of the United States representing that S. Osborne Esq., 
who was their Sub-Agent, had signified his intention of calling a 
Council of Senecas, for the purpose of conferring about their po- 
litical difi'erences ; and protesting against the holding any such 
Council. 

This Memorial was transmitted to Agent Osborne, for a re- 
port thereon. 

On the 3d of February, 1852, Mr. Osborne reported that 
great dissensions and difficulties existed among the Senecas ; that 
he had advised the calling of a council to talk over their difficul- 
ties ; that a very large portion of the Indians had never submitted 
to the new Government; and that the Memorial in question 
originated with Dr. Peter Y/ilson, a Cayuga, who feared the 
proposed Council might be favorable to his removal from the of- 
fice of Interpreter to the Senecas. 

This office deemed it inexpedient to hold the Council contem- 
plated by Sub- Agent Osborne, and it was not called. 

In July, 1852, President Fillmore received a Memorial from 
the Annual Council of the Seneca Nation, setting forth at con- 
siderable length the grievances of those opposed to the new Gov- 
ernment, representing that the change had been effected by 
means the most unfair and disreputable, and praying the Presi- 
dent to prescribe some mode by which the sense of a majority of 
the Senecas might be taken upon the Question, whether they 
preferred the old Government or the new one established in 
1848. 



48 

Agreeably to the prayer of the Memorial, the Presidetit direct- 
"ed that the Sub-Agent, Osborne, and Chester Howe, Esq. should 
be appointed to take the vote of the Senecas on the aforesaid 
question: — They were accordingly appointed, and directed to 
give due and timely notice to the whole Nation, of the time and 
place of holding the Election. 

On the 13th of September, 1852, these gentlemen reported 
that the election had been held in accordance with their instruc- 
tions; that on the Allegany Seservation, seventy Seneca Indians 
voted for " the old Government by Chiefs," and no other votes 
were received or offered; that on the Cattaraugus Reservation 
one hundred and twenty-four Seneca Indians voted for " the old 
Government by Chiefs," and no others were offered; that the 
Tonawanda Senecas refused to vote, alleging that they had no 
connection with the Now Government, but were still governed 
by their Chiefs — and that those on the Allegany and Cattarau- 
gus Reservations, who were friendly to the New Government, had 
consulted together and resolved not to vote or take any part in 
the proceeding. A communication was at the same time received 
from John Hudson, President of the Convention of the friends 
of the -New Government, that their reason for refusing to attend 
the Election was, that there was an amendment to their Constitu- 
tion providing ' ' that their Constitution shall not be altered or 
amended for a term of not less than five years from and after 
October 2nd, 1849;" they would not recognize the right of any 
power to change their form of Government till the expiration of 
that time. This consideration^ together with the fact that a ma- 
jority of the Allegany and Cattaraugus voters did not participate 
in the aforesaid Election, forbad this office to regard the result of 
that Election as a fair expression of the preferences of the Sen- 
eca Nation upon the subject of their Government. By the cen- 
sus of 1852, the number of Indian men residing on the Alle- 
gany Reservation was 191, and upon the Cattaraugus Reserva- 
tion, 311 ; so that exclusive of those living upon the Tonawanda, 
a majority did not vote. 

In November, 1852, a Memorial was presented to President 
Fillmore by John Hudson, purporting to contain the proceedings 



49 » 

of ft Convention of Senecas remonstrating against any change 
in their Representative form of Government. This Memorial 
was referred by the President to Sub-Agent Osborne, requesting 
his Report thereon, and his candid opinion respecting the condi- 
tion of the Seneca Nation and their form of Government. Sub- 
Agent Osborne replied, that he believed that no such Conven- 
tion as that mentioned in the Memorial was held; that John 
Hudson was not a fit representative of any civilized portion of 
the Senecas; that the political agitation growing out of tho 
change of Government, had produced much evil among them ; 
that the result of the Election held by them should not be re- 
garded as conclusive either way ; that he could not positively say 
which party had the actual majority, but if the idle and worth- 
less were excluded, the majority would be in favor of the Gov- 
ernment by Chiefs ; that he had no hesitation in saying that of 
the two parties, the one in favor of the old Chiefs' Government 
is far more v.^orthy of regard and countenance ; that an unquali- 
fied return to the old Government would likely continue the agi- 
tation, but would be better than the present state of things, and 
that he would advise a substantial return of the old Government, 
brought about under the semblance of compromise between the 
parties. 

President Fillmore did not take any farther action in the 
premises, but directed the papers to be filed in this office. This 
course vras pursued in order to give the new Government an 
opportunity of being tested ; and because it had been authoritively 
represented to the Department and was well understood, that an 
amendment to their Constitution provided that no alteration 
should be made therein for the term of five years, and it was 
hoped that in the meantime the differences between the two parties 
might be reconciled, and the differences healed. 

On the 31st of January, 1853, Hon. S. G. Haven transmitted 
to this office, a communication from the Chiefs of the Seneca 
Nation, expressing their anxiety to have the President decide 
definitively upon the subject of their Government. This com- 
munication was ansv/cred by my immediate predecessor in office, 
informing Mr. Haven, "that the President was indisposed to ca- 
7 



50 

courage reTolutionary movements among the Indians at any 
time, and considered that all ejfforts of that character previous to 
the expiration of the five years would be improper and prema- 
ture!" 

Matters remained in this condition, nothing further being done 
by the Department, or called for by the Indians. In the annual 
report of Marcus H. Johnson, Esq, , the present Sub-Agent for 
the New York Indians, dated September 30th, 1853, the con- 
dition and political affairs of these Indians are spoken of in the 
following terms, viz : — "The Senecas at Cattaraugus and Alle- 
gany have made great improvement in their social and political 
condition, and have made a rapid advancement in agricultural 
pursuits. They have established a Republican form of Govern- 
ment, and their officers are elected annually by the people, and 
are held strictly responsible for their official acts. This fact in- 
cites those who hold stations of honor and trust to exert their 
best energies to promote the interests of their Nation. The first 
time I visited the Senecas they were in Council, and the strictest 
order and parliamentary rules which were enforced and adhered 
to, would be creditable in any Legislative Body. And since 
this change in the form of Government the masses appear to take 
more interest in their affairs, and understand more fully the con- 
dition of their National matters." 

This representation, made in the official report of the United 
States Agent, induced me to believe that the unfortunate and dis- 
tracting controversy between these Indians had terminated, and 
that the Republican form of Government had been acquiesced in, 
and I so stated in my annual report. But on the 15th of De- 
cember last, I received a communication from several persons, 
representing themselves as Seneca Chiefs, complaining of the 
statement in my annual report and informing me that as the five 
years alluded to by President Fillmore had expired, they intend- 
ed to lay their grievances before President Pierce, and ask him 
to do I hem justice. 

I have thus given, so far as I have been enabled to do by an 
examination of the Records of this office, a succinct history of 
this difficulty — of the facts attending the change of Govern- 



61 

ment — of the agitation and dissentions which ensued — of the 
subsequent proceedings of each party — and of the action of our 
Government respecting the matters in controversy. 

Although no integral part of the history of the case, it may bo 
proper to mention, as incidental thereto, that the Society of 
Friends, who have for a long time been laboring among these In- 
dians and endeavoring to improve their condition, have, during 
the entire course of the controversy^ been steadfast friends of the 
new Republican form of Government, and have addressed to this 
office various Memorials and remonstrances against the return to 
the old Government by Chiefs. 

I deem it proper also to state in this connection, that I have 
informed Hon. G. \Y. Clinton that I intend to visit the New York 
Indians during the present summer, unless prevented by the 
business of this office, for the purpose of gaining more intimate 
acquaintance with their condition, and of conferring with them 
upon their domestic affairs. 

Yery respectfully, your obedient servant, 

G. W. MANYPEXxXY, Commissioner, c&c. 
Hox. Pb. McClelland, Sec. Interior. 



It is evident that the Indians of our country are not able to 
sustain themselves, against the more mature intellect and con- 
summate artifice of the Anglo-Saxon race. They have needed, 
and they yet need, faithful and able counsellors to stand by them 
in the difficulties and dangers that surround them. Of this we 
have a chain of evidence extending from remote periods to the 
present time; and without protection, there is strong reason to 
believe the race will be exterminated. Yet it is most conclu- 
sively shown, in the present condition to which the Scnecas have 
been led, by the fostering care and protection of the State of 
New York, aided by the Indian Bureau at Washington, and 
the exertions of their friends, that they may not only be saved 
from extinction, but may become good agriculturists and useful 
citizens. 



52 

In a visit lately made to them by the bonevolent and truly 
estimable Commissioner of Indian aiTairs^ at Washington, for the 
laudable purpose of ascertaining their real condition, in order 
that he might judge whether the aid they asked could be bene- 
ficially given, after he had visited a number of them in their 
houses — seen the domestic comforts of their families, and their 
generally greatly improved condition, a considerable number of 
them, before he l,eft the Reservation, were convened, when he 
delivered to them an appropriate address which had a most happy 
effect towards producing more harmony and mutual confidence 
among them, than had for some time before existed. 

He told them the land they now occupy, was the last resting 
place for them and their children — that they must remain where 
they now are, and be civilizedj or be crushed and destroyed — he 
impressively advised them not to become unsettled, and to live 
in peace and harmony among themselves — to cultivate their 
lands — be industrious and frugal, and avoid intemperance. He 
also urged them to educate their children, assuring them that 
neither as regards their intellectual endowments or physical pow- 
ers were they inferior to any other people on earth — told them he 
thought they were in a fair way to solve the problem, whether 
the Indians can be civilized in their communities, and if they 
persevered in their efforts, and succeeded, they would be the 
means of saving thousands of their, race in the west, now de- 
graded in ignorance. Philanthropists, he said, seeing their suc- 
cess, would be encouraged to exert stronger efforts to rescue the 
race from destruction. 

They were deeply impressed with a solemn conviction of the 
importance of the advice they received, and it is hoped it will be 
remembered, and be a lasting benefit to them. 

There is no race nor nation of people, upon whom Providence 
has conferred a quicker or clearer perception, or more retentive 
memories, consequently there are none who acquire information 
with more facility, or remember more tenaciously what they may 
have learned. And there is not a nation, nor ever has there 
been one. of whom we know anything, more eminently gifted 
with the powers of a thrilling extempore eloquence. Neither 



Greece, nor Eoine, nor modern Europe Lave produced greater 
orators than the uneducated aborigines of North America. And 
jet the policy that has been adopted towards these people, cer- 
tainly tends to their rapid extinction, and unless some change is 
made in that policy, in a little time no vestige will remain of 
the millions of Red men who peopled this great country when 
our ancestors first arrived among them " except the beautiful 
names they have conferred upon our noblest rivers and loftiest 
mountains. These may for ages remain,' to attest the beauty of 
their language," but should their destruction unhappily be rea- 
lised, we may, in the pathetic language of one of our most gifted 
countrymen, when referring to the extermination of the aborigi- 
nes, say : ' ' Posterity will eith6r turn with horror and incredulity 
from the tale, or blush with indignation, at the inhumanity of 
their forefathers." 

" We are driven back," said an old warrior, "until we can 
retreat no further; — our hatchets are broken — our bows are 
snapped — our fires are nearly extinguished ; a little longer, and 
the white man will cease to persecute us, for we shall cease to 
exist." 



GEMS 



OF 



INDIAN ELOaUENGE 



Of the brilliant galaxy of illustrious statesmen and orators, 
which the State of Virginia has produced, some of the most emi- 
nent were descended from an Indian woman, and as further evi- 
dence of their naturally gifted eloquence, the following extracts 
from the extempore speeches of some of these untutored orators, 
are here subjoined. 



54 

The speccli of Logan, a Mingo Cliief, whose mother was a 
Seneca, is familiar to every one. It will be recollected that 
Logan refused to attend the council held between Grovernor Dun- 
more and the Indians, after the decisive battle between the Vir- 
ginians and the Western Indians, near Point Pleasant, on the 
Grreat Kenhawa. After the terms of the Treaty had been ad- 
justed it was deemed requisite, before it could be formally 
signed, to despatch a Messenger to Logan, and inform him of 
the conditions that had been agreed upon, and enquire if he 
would accede to them. On which occasion, after shedding many 
tears for the loss of his friends and relations, he returned the 
following answer: 

*'I appeal to any White man to say, if he ever entered 
Logan's cabin and he gave him not meat — if he ever came cold 
and naked, and he clothed him not. 

"During the course of the last long bloody war, Logan 
remained idle in his cabin, an advocate for peace. Such was his 
love for the whites, that his countrymen pointed as they passed, 
and said: Logan is a friend of the White man. I had even 
thought to have lived with you, but for the injuries of one man, 
Colonel Cresap, the last Spring, in cold blood, and unprovoked, 
he murdered all the relations of Logan, not even sparing my 
women and children. There runs not one drop of my blood in 
the veins of any living creature. This called on me for revenge. 
I have sought it. I have killed many. I have fully glutted my 
vengeance. For my country 1 rejoice at the beams of peace. 
But do not harbor a thought that mine is the joy of fear ! Logan 
never felt fear ! He will not turn on his heel to save his life. 
Who is there to mourn for Logan ? not one !" 



Ho-na-ye-was, an Onondaga Chief, in an address to the Legis- 
lature of New York, in which he referred to the numerous evils 
and sufferings that had been inflicted upon his people, by the 
wars they had been brought into, and explaining the object of 
his present visit, proceeded thus : 



65 

'^Brothers! you will recollect the late war [Revolutionary] 
between 3-ou and your Father the King of England. That con- 
test threw the inhabitants of this whole Island into great tumult 
and commotion, like a raging whirlwind which tears up trees, 
and tosses to and fro the leaves, so that no one knows from 
whence they come or where they will fall. This whirlwind was 
so directed by the Great Spirit above, as to throw into our arms 
two of your infant children. We adopted them into our families 
and made them our children." Ihen stating the favor he wished 
to obtain for them, and referring to the devastations and mise- 
ries that war had inflicted upon his people he continued : — 
" At length the Great Spirit spoke to the whirlwind, and it was 
still I a clear and bright sky appeared — the path of peace was 
opened, and the chain of friendship was once more made bright 
between us." 

If there has been anything written or spoken, which surpasses 
in sublimity and grandeur, this representation of the Divine 
energy and power: " the Great Spirit spoke and the whirlwind 
was still I" it is the expressions in the Book of Genesis: "and 
God said, let there be light, and there was light." 



Extract from a speech addressed by Gayashuta, an aged 
Seneca Chief, to #friend in Philadelphia. 

' ' Brother I your Fathers saw Gayashuta when he was young ; 
when he had not even thought of old age, or weakness, but you 
are too far off to see him now He is grown old. He is very 
old and feeble, and he wonders at his shadow — it has become so 
small. He has no children to take care of him, and the game 
is driven away by the white people, so that the young men must 
hunt all day long to find game for themselves to eat — they have 
nothing left for Gayashuta. And it is not Gayashuta only, who 
has become old and feeble — there yet remains about thirty of 
your old friends, who, unable to provide for themselves, or to 
help one another, are become poor and hungry and naked. 

^' Brother ! Gavashuta sends vou a belt, v-McJi he received lon^ 



56 

vgofrom your Fathers, aud a Laud writing, which he received as 
yesterday, from one of 3^011. By these you will remember him, 
and the old friends of your fathers in this Nation. Look on this 
belt and writing ; and if you rememher the old friends of your 
Fathers, consider their former friendship, and their present dis- 
tress ; and if the Good Spirit shall put it into your hearts to 
comfort them in their old age, do not disregard his counsel. We 
are men, and therefore need only tell you that we are old and 
feeble and hungry, and naked, and that we have no frien s but 
you — the children of our beloved brother. Onas." [William 
Penn,] 



In the year 1791, Cornplant and several other Seneca Chiefs 
visited Philadelphia, for the purpose of endeavoring to prevail 
on General Washington, then President of the United States, 
to restore back to their Nation a part of their land that a few 
years before had been forced from them at the Treaty of Fort 
Stanwix. On that occasion this Chief addressed the President 
as follows : 

Father ! the voice of the Seneca Nation speaks to you, the 
Great Counsellor, in whose heart the wise men of all the thir- 
teen fires, have placed their wisdom. What we may have to say 
may appear small in your ears and we ther^re entreat you to 
hearken with attention, for we are about to speak of things of 
very great importance. 

"When your army entered the country of the Six Nations we 
called you the Town Destroyer, and to this day, when that 
terrible name is heard, our women look behind and turn pale, 
and our children cling to the breasts of their mothers. Our 
Counsellors and Warriors are men, and cannot be aifraid, but 
their hearts are grieved on account of the distress of our women 
and children." 

The orator then j^roceeded to set forth in detail, the stratagems 
and other iniquitous means that had been resorted to, for the 
purpose of deceiving the Indians, and compelling them to sur- 



lender tlie great country lately given up. He referred to the 
part he liad himself been led to take, in making the Treaty — 
described the effect produced on the minds of his people towards 
him and proceeded to say : 

"Father! when that great country was surrendered, there 
were but few Chiefs present, and they were compelled to give it 
up. and it is not the Six Nations only that reproach these Chiefs 
with having given up that country ; the Chippewas, and all the 
Nations who lived on those Lands, westw^^rd, call to us and ask 
us, *' brothers of our fathers, where is the place you have re- 
gerved for us to lie down upon?" 

* ' Father I you have compelled us to do that which has made 
us ashamed. We have nothing to answer to the children of the 
brothers of our fathers. When, last Spring, they called upon us 
to go to war, to secure a bed to lie upon, the Senecas entreated 
them to be quiet, until we had spoken to you. But on our way 
down, we heard that your army had gone towards the country 
which these Nations inhabit, and if they meet, the best blood on 
both sides will stain the ground." 

* ' Father ! we will not conceal from you, that the Grrcat God, 
and not man, has preserved Cornplant from the hands of his own 
Nation; for they ask continually: "where is the Land which 
our children, and their children after them are to lie upon?" 
You told us, tliey say, ' ' that the line drawn from Pennsylvania 
to Lake Ontario, would mark it forever on the East ; and the line 
running from Beaver Creek to Pennsylvania, would mark it on 
the "West, and we see that it is not so. For first one, and then 
another, comes and takes it avray, by order of that people 
which you tell us promised to secure it to us." He is silent, for 
he has nothing to answer. When the Sun goes down, he opens 
his heart before his God, and earlier than the Sun appears upon 
the hills, he gives thanks for his protection during the night; for 
ho feels that among men, made desperate by their wrongs^ it is 
God alone that can preserve him. He loves peace, and all tliat 
he had in store lie has given to those who have been robbed by 
your people, lest they should plunder the innocent to repay 
themselves. The whole season, while others have been employed 
8 



58 

in. providing for their families, he has spent in his endeavors to 
preserve peace, and at this moment his wife and children are ly- 
ing on the ground, and in want of food; his heart is pained for 
them, hut he perceives that the Grreat God will try his firmness 
in doing what ie right." 

"Father! you have said we are in your hand, and that by 
shutting it you could crush us to nothing. Are you determined 
to crush us ? If you are, tell us so that those of our Nation who 
have become your children, and have determined, so to die, may 
know what to do In this case, one Chief has said he would en- 
treat you to put him out of paiB ; another, who will not think of 
dying by the hand of his father, or of his brother, has said, he 
will retire to the chataugay, eat of the fatal root, and sleep with 
his fathers in peace." 

"Before you determine on a measure so unjust, look up to 
God who made us as well as you. We hope he will not permit 
you to destroy the whole of our Nation." 

' ' Father ! innocent men of our Nation are killed, one after 
another, and ofour best families, but none of your people who have 
committed these murders have been punished. We now ask 
you, was it intended that your people should kill the Senecas, 
and not only remain unpunished by you, but be protected by you 
against the revenge of the next of kin ? " 

♦ "Father! these are to us very great things. We know that 
you are very strong — we have heard you are wise — and we now 
wait to receive your answer to what we have said, that we may 
know if you are just." 



It is known that the celebrated Seneca Chief Sa-go-ye-wat-ha^. 
[Red Jacket] was opposed to the introduction of civilization 
among the Indians, and that especially he was hostile to their 
adopting the Christian Religion. Among the speeches addressed 
by him in reply to Missionaries who came among his people, the 
following fragments are selected, illustrative of his views on these 
subjects, and of his manner of expressing them : 



59 

*' Brother! this Council fire was kindled by you. It was at 
your request we came together at this time. We have listened 
with attention to what you have said. You requested us to 
speak our minds freely : this gives us pleasure ; for we may now 
consider that we stand before you upright, and can say what wo 
think. We have all heard your voice, and we all speak to you 
now as one man — our minds are agreed." 

"Brother! listen to what we say: — there was a time when 
our forefathers owned all this Great Island — their seats extended 
from the rising to the setting sun — the Great Spirit had made it 
for the use of the Indians. He had created the buffalo, the 
deer, and other animals for food — he had made the bear and the 
beaver, their skins served us for clothing — he had scattered them 
over the country and taught us how to take them. He bad 
caused the earth to produce corn for bread. All this he had 
done for his Red children because he loved them. If we had 
some disputes about our hunting grounds they were generally 
settled without the loss of much blood. But an evil day came 
upon us. Your forefathers crossed the Great water and landed 
on this Island. Their number was small — they found friends 
and not enemies. They told us they had fled from their own 
country for fear of wicked men, and had come here to enjoy 
their religion. They asked us for a small seat: we pitied them 
and granted their request and they set down among us. We 
gave them corn and meat — in return they gave us poison, [rum.] 
It was strong and powerful, and has slain thousands. Ycu have 
become a great people, and we are reduced to a handful, and 
have scarcely a place left to spread our blankets. You have got 
our country but are not satisfied — you want to force our religion 
from us. We understand your religion is written in a Great 
Book. If it was intended for us, as well as for you, why did not 
the Great Spirit give it to us, and not only to us, but why did he 
not give it to our forefathers. You say there is but one way to 
worship the Great Spirit. If there is but one religion, why do 
you white people dispute so much about it? Why are you not 
all agreed ? You all can read the Book. We have also a reli- 
gion which was given to our forefathers, and has been handed 



60 

Sown to us their children. We worship in that way. It teaches 
us to be thankful for all the favors we receive — to love each 
other, and to be united. We never quarrel about religion. 

" Brother! we have been told you have been preaching near 
'to this place. These people are our neighbors. We know tJiemf 
and will wait a little while, and see what effect your preaching 
will have upon them ; if we find it does them good — makes them 
more honest, and less disposed to cheat Indians, we will then 
consider what you have said to us." 

On another occasion, in reply to a missionary, after referring 
to the demoralising effects that had followed tiie intercourse of 
the Indians with the white people, and denying that they had 
ever, in any way, been improved in their moral condition by the 
attempts that had been made to change their religion, the orator 
proceeded to say: " Thus you see, Brother, that in our attempts 
to pattern after your example, the Great Spirit is angry — -he does 
not crown your exertions. But, Brother, on the other hand we 
know the Great Spirit is pleased that we follow the customs and 
Traditions of our forefathers, for in doing so we receive his bles- 
sings. He gives us strength and vigor for the chase. He pro- 
vides for us abundance. When we are hungry, we find the 
forest filled with game. When thirsty, we drink from the pure 
streams and springs that he spreads around us. When weary, 
the leaves of the trees are our beds. We retire with content- 
ment to rest, and we rise with gratitude to the Great Giver. 
With renovated strength in our limbs, and bounding with joy in 
our hearts, we feel that we are blessed and happy. No luxuries, 
no vices, no disputed titles, no avaricious desires, shake the foun- 
dations of our society, or disturb our peace. We know that the 
Great Spirit is better pleased with his Red children than with 
the white, v.^hen he thus bestows upon us a hundred fold more 
blessings than upon them." 

In the year 1821, a woman at Buffalo, was tried, convicted, 
and executed for witchcraft. The circumstances coming to the 
knowledge of the authorities of New York, the man who had 
put her to death, was arrested and lodged in jail. When the 
trial carae on, Red Jacket appeared in Court, to defend him, 

I 



61 

with witnesses to prove the fact of the woman's guilt, and that 
she had been legally punished according to the known laws of 
his nation. Being ashed by one of the counsel, what rank he 
held in the nation, he answered with a contemptuous sneer: — 
* ' Look at the public treaties which your Government has made 
with our nation, they will inform you who I am." 

The testimony of Red Jacket went clearly to prove that the 
woman was undoubtedly a witch, and that she had, after a fair 
and legal trial, according to the Laws of the Nation, been justly 
executed. Tn the course of the proceedings, perceiving that 
their superstition on the subject of witchcraft, was a theme of ri- 
dicule among the Legal Profession engaged in the trial, as well as 
with the by-standers, Red Jacket found an opportunity to give vent 
to his feelings, which he did in the following words: — " What," 
said he, " do you denounce us as fools and bigots, because we 
still continue to believe that which you yourselves sedulously 
inculcated less than two centuries ago ! Your black-coats have 
thundered this doctrine from the puipits — your Judges have pro- 
nounced it from the bench — your Courts have sanctioned it with 
the formalities of the Law, and you would now punish an unfor- 
tunate brother, for adhering to the opinion of his forefathers ! 
Go to Salem ! look at the records of your Government, and you 
will find hundreds executed there for the very crime which called 
forth the sentence of condemnation upon this woman, and drawn 
down the arm of vengeance upon her. What have we done 
more than the Rulers cf your people have done? and what 
crime has this man coramicted by having executed in a summary 
way, the Laws of his Country, and the injunctions of his God? ' 

This sudden burst of indignation and eloquence, produced, as 
might be expected a sort of galvanic shock upon the audience, 
and no doubt had its full effect upon the result of the trial. 
The man, after some delay, was discharged. 

Some months previous to the death of Sa-go-ye-wat-ha Time 
had made such fearful ravages upon his constitution, as to render 
him fully sensible of his approaching dissolution. To that event 
he often adverted, but always with philosophic calmness. 

Perceiving that his life was drawing to a close, he convened a 



&2 

General Council of tlie Nation, embracing the several Parties 
into which it had become divided, for the express purpose of 
endeavoring to effect, if possible, a reconciliation among them, 
when he earnestly recommended that they should endeavor to 
live in peace and more harmony together, and so great was his 
influence, that by his exertions mutual good feelings were for a 
time restored. 

A short time before his death, after recapitulating to his peo- 
ple who were gathered around him, their history, from the most 
remote period to which his knowledge extended, he adverted to 
the many wrongs and sufferings inflicted on them by the whites ; 
referring to his arduous and unremitted exertions to ward off 
these evils, he said : " I am about to leave you, and my warning 
voice will no longer be heard or regarded ; the craft of the lohite 
man wiU prevail. Many winters have I breasted the storm, but 
I am an aged Tree and can stand no longer. My leaves are 
fallen and my branches are withered, and I am shaken by every 
breeze. Soon my aged trunk will be prostrate, and the foot of 
the exulting foe of the Indians, may then be placed upon it with 
safety ; for there is none who will be able to avenge such an 
insult. 

" Think not that I mourn for myself. I go to join the spirits 
of my fathers, where age and suffering cannot come, but my 
heart fails when I think of my people, who are so soon to be 
scattered — destroyed and forgotten. 

"When I am buried let me be dressed and equipped as my 
fathers were, that their spirits may rejoice at my coming." 

He died in 1830; aged 78 years. 



In a speech of Tarhie, head Chief of the Wyandots, addressed 
to Friends, in the year 1798, after describing the terrible effects 
that war had produced upon his race, since the settlement of the 
white people in this country, he concluded his address with the 
following beautiful peroration : 

"Brothers! may the Great Spirit, the Master of light and 



63 

life, so dispose the hearts and minds of all our nations and peo- 
ple, that the calamities of war may never more be known or felt 
by them That our roads and paths may never again be stained 
with the !-lood of our young warriors, and that our women and 
children may walk in peace and safety." 



In the year 1802 a Deputation of Indians from the Miami 
and other nations inhabiting the country bordering on and lay- 
inor west of the Michigan lake, being on their way to the city of 
Washington, had a conference with some members of the Society 
of Friends in Baltimore, to whom they wished to make known 
certain grievances which at that time pressed heavily upon tliem. 
The Little Turtle, then the head war chief of this confederacy, 
made an impressive appeal to the sympathy of those Friends, on 
the occasion, and earnestly invoked their assistance in obtaining 
the relief they were about to ask from the Government of the 
United States, After some very appropriate and impressive 
remarks in which he stated the reasons why he had desired this 
interview with the descendants of their revered brother Onas,"^ 
he proceeded to state the wrongs and sufferings to which they 
were subjected under the present system and policy of the Gen- 
eral Government, towards them, since the Treaty of Grenville; 
referred to the kind assistance they had received from Friends 
in Philadelphia, who had never asked any land or pay from 
them, and the joy he felt at finding the Quakers in Baltimore, 
had manifested the same friendly feeling towards them ; he pro- 
ceeded to say : 

"Brothers ! when our fathers first met on this Island, your Bed 
brethren were numerous, but since the introduction among us of 
what you call spirituous liquors, and what we think may justly 
be called poison, our numbers are greatly diminished. It has 
destroyed many thousands of your Bed brethren. It is not 
an evil of our own making — we have not placed it among 
ourselves. It is an evil placed among us by the white people, 
and we have a right to look to them to remove it from our couc- 
*" Wm. Pean, 



64 

try, and if they Lave' the friendship for us, which they tell ui 
they have, they certainly will not let it continue among us any 
longer. Our earnest entreaties to those who bring this evil 
amongst us, are disregarded. \^ e tell them, fetch us useful 
things — bring us goo is that will clothe us our women and chil- 
dren and not this evil liquor, which destroys our reason — im- 
pairs our health, and kills our people. But all we cr.n say is of 
no service — it affords no relief to your Red Brethren. 

"Brothers I it has destroyed so many of our lives, that it causes 
our young men t-) say, " we had better be at war with the while 
people — this liquor that they introduce into our country is more 
to be feared than the gun and the tomahawk — there are more of 
us dead since the treaty of Grenville, than we lost by the six 
years war before, and all this is owing to the introduction of this 
liquor amongst us. 

"Brothers and Friends! in addition to this, I will further say, 
it has made us poor. It is this liquor that has caused our men 
to go without clothes, and our women and children without any 
thing to eat. 

"Brothers! when our young men have been out hunting, and 
are returning home loaded with skins and furs, if they come 
where some of this whiskey is deposited, the white man who sells 
it, asks them to take a little drink — some of them will say, " no, 
I don't want it." The}^ go on until they come to another house 
where they find more of this kind of drink. It is offered there 
again — they refuse — and again, the third time, but finally one ac- 
cepts it, and takes a drink, and getting one, he wants another, 
and then a third and a fourth, till his senses have left him. 
After this, reason comes back to him again, and he gets up and 
finds where he is. He asks for his peltry. They tell him 
he has drank them. Where is my gun ? — it is gone. Where is 
my blanket? — it is gone. Where is my shirt? — you have sold 
it for whiskey. Now Brothers, figure to yourselves what a con- 
dition this man must be in ! He has a family at home — a wife 
and children that stand in need of the profits of his hunting ! 
What must be their wants, when he himself is without a shirt ? 



65 

During tho Revolutionary war, Captain Pipe, a Miami diief, 
,-who had been employed by the British Officer, in command, at 
Detroit, to slaughter the frontier inhabitants on the north-west- 
ern frontiers of Pennsylvania and New York, on the return from 
his murderous expedition, at the council house, he was seated in 
front of the chief officer ; after a short pause, he arose and ad- 
dressed the British officer as follows, keeping his eyes keenly 
fixed upon him : 

''Father, some time ago you put a war-hatchet into my hands* 
saying : ' ' Take this weapon and try it on the heads of my ene- 
mies, the Long Knives, and let me know afterwards if it is 
sharp and goo a." 

' ' Father ! at the time you gave me this weapon I had neither 
cause nor inclination to go to war against a people who had done 
me no injury; yet in obedience to you, who say you are my 
father, and call me your child, I received the hatchet; well 
knowing if I did not obey, you would withhold from me the ne- 
cessaries of life, which are not always to be procured, but at the 
house of my father. 

*' Father ! you have raised a quarrel among yourselves, and you 
ought yourselves to fight it out. You should not send your 
children, the Indians, to spill their blood for your sake. Already 
many lives have been lost on your account ! Our Nations have 
sufi"ered deeply and been weakened I children have lost parents, 
brothers and relations. Wives lost their husbands I and it is 
not known how many more may perish before your war will be 
at an end. 

"Father! keep what I have said in remembrance. I have 
done with the Hatchet what you ordered me to do ! (here he 
delivered to the British officer the stick he held in his hand, with 
the scalp on it, and continued) yes^ 1 have done with the hatchet 
what you ordered me, and found it sharp ; nevertheless I did not 
do all that I might have done. No! I did not. My heart failed 
within me. I felt compassion for your enemy. I spared inno-^ 
cent, helpless women and children. They had no part in you.v 
quarrels, tlicreforc T spared them." 
D 



66 

Speech of Colonel Cobb, a principal Chief of the Choctaw 
Tribe, East of the Mississippi Eiver, addressed to the agent ofT 
the United States, who had been directed to remove the remnant 
of that Tribe, that were opposed to emigration, and had hoped 
they would be permitted to linger at their homes, near the graves^ 
of their fathers : 

* * Brother ! we have listened to your talk, coming from our 
Father, the Great "White Chief, at Washington, and my people 
have called upon me to reply to you. The Red man has no 
books, and when he desires to make known his wishes, like his 
fathers before him, he speaks from his mouth. He is afraid of 
writing. "When he speaks he knows what he says, and as the 
G-reat Spirit hears him, he must speak the truth. Writing is- 
the invention of the pale-faces, it gives birth to frauds. The 
Great Spirit talks. We hear hi» voice in the thunder — in tha 
rushing winds — and in the mighty waters, but he never writes. 

"Brother! we have, as your friends, fought by your side,. 
and have poured out our blood in your defense, but our arms are 
now broken. You have grown large. My people have become 
small, and there are none who take pity on them. 

* ' Brother ! my voice is become weak — you can scarcely hear 
me. It is not the shout of a warrior, but the wail of an infant.. 
I have lost it in mourning over the desolation and injuries of my 
people. These are their graves which you see scattered around, 
us, and in the winds which pass through these aged pines we 
hear the meanings of their departed Ghosts. Their ashes lie 
here, and we have been left to protect them. Our warriors are 
nearly all gone to the West, but here are our dead. Will you: 
compel us to go too, and give their bones to the wolves? 

"Brother! our heart is full. Twelve winters ago we were 
told our Chiefs had sold our country. Every warrior that you' 
HOW see around us was opposed to the Treaty ; and if the voice 
of our people could have been heard, that act would never have 
been done; but alas! though they stood around they could 
Heither be seen nor heard. Their tears fell like drops of rain — 
their lamentations were borne away by the passing winds — the 
pale-faces heeded them not and our land was taken from us ! 



67 

" Brotker ! we know your arm is strong and we cannot resist 
it, but the pale-face says he worships the Great Spirit — so does 
the Ked man. The Great Spirit loves justice and truth. When 
jou took our country you promised to provide homes for us : this 
promise is recorded in your own book. Twelve summers have 
drooped their leaves, and yet we have received no land. Vie 
have been turned out of our houses ; we have seen the plough of 
the white man turn up fae bones of our Fathers. We dare not 
kindle our fires, and yet you said you would give us land, and 
that we might remain here. Father is this truth ? We are 
mourning orphans in our country. Let our Father take us by 
the hand and fulfill his promise — then we will give our answer. 
We cannot think now ; grief has made us children. When our 
business is settled, we shall again be men, and be able to talk 
to our Father about the business he has proposed to us. 

"Brother! you stand in the moccasins of the Great Chief — 
you speak the words of a mighty nation. I am a shadow^ and 
scarcely reach to your knee. My people are scattered and gone ; 
when I shout. I hear my voice in the depths of the forest, but no 
answering voice comes back to me — all is silent around me! 
My words therefore to you must be few. I can now say no 
mor«." 



Kah-ge-ga-cah-bowh, an Objebwa Indian, referring to his 
birth, says: — "I was born in nature's wide domain, the trees 
were all that sheltered my infant limbs, the blue heavens all that 
covered me. I am therefore one of nature's children. I have 
always admired her — her features — her robes — her varying sea- 
sons — her stately oaks and evergreens ! These all contribute to 
increase my enduring love of her, and whenever emotions of de- 
light roll in my breast, and swell and burst there like waves oa 
the shores of the ocean, my heart rises in prayer and praise 
to him who has placed me in her hand. It is thought great to 
be born in palaces, surrounded by wealth, but to be born in na- 
ture's wide domain is greater still. My recollections often 



carry me back to the tail trees, the dark wood^, the deep soli- 
tude, where the little wrens sung so melodiously ; where the 
current of the broad river, flowing near our Wigwam, passed 
silently on ; where the skipping of the fishes amused me ; and 
the noise of the cataract, a little above, often solemnly impressed 
me. It was here I first saw the light. When I last visited it, 
no trace remained of our frail Wigwam — but the grass was green 
there. . I would much more glory in this birth place, with the 
boundless canopy of heaven over me, and the giant arms of the 
forest trees for my shelter, than to be born in a palace of marble, 
studded with pillars of gold. Nature will be nature still, while 
palaces shall decay and fall into ruins. Yes^ Niagara will be 
Niagara a thousand years hence. The rainbow, a wreath over 
her brow, shall continue as long as the sun, and the flowing of 
the river, while the works of art, however imppegnable, shall per-f 
ish and crumble into atoms." 

Referring to the death of his mother, he says: — *'The last 
word she feebly uttered was Jesus. Her spirit then fled, and 
those hands that had often administered comfort and relief, 
were now cold in death. It was then I began to feel and appre- 
ciate the depth of our loss ; the remembrance of her kindness 
and love overwhelmed me, and it seemed my heart would burst. 
The thought rushed upon my mind, who can take the place of 
my mother ! Her body was consigned to the grave without pa- 
rade. No church bells were tolled, but the wind mournfully 
sounded through the trees. I have often visited the place, and 
kneeling at the head of her grave, have desired that the time 
would soon arrive when it might please God to relieve me from 
my troubles and cares, and conduct me to the abodes of my be- 
loved parent. My sister has since died, and is doubtless with 
my mother. How glorious the thought, they are both now in 
Heaven ! There none will sigh for home. The flowers that 
bloom there will never fade. The crystal waters that wind along 
the verdant vales will never cease to send up their heavenly mu- 
sic — the clusters that hang from the trees, overshadowing their 
banks, will be immortal clusters; and the friends that meet 
there, will never again know a separation.'' 



69 

The Joint Committee of tlie four Yearly Meetings of Friends, 
who had extended assistance to the Seneca Indians, at Cattarau- 
gus, believing that in their improved condition, the Agent who 
had been employed by the Committee to instruct them in their 
agricultural concerns, might be withdrawn^ and that they might 
now be left to walk alone. Upon communicating this informa- 
tion to them, they were informed, that should circumstances here- 
after render it necessary, and they should desire further assist- 
ance or advice, the Committee would at all times be ready, as 
far as in their power, to render it. 

On receiving this information an address was forwarded to the 
Committee, from these Indians, from which the following is 
extracted : 

To the Committee of the four Yearly Meetings of Friends, of 
JSfew York, PhiladelpMa, Baltimore and Genessee, on Indian 
concerns. 

" Your communications of the 7th day of September, instant, 
made to the Council of our Nation, has informed us of the fact, 
that the period of the termination of your joint labors had now 
arrived. "We were also informed, that the premises occupied by 
you, would be surrendered to the Existing Government of the 
Seneca Nation of Indians, at a proper time. 

* ' Brothers ! it is with much pain and sorrow we learn that 
you are to close your labors among us. When we turn our faces 
backward, and look over the histories of the past, we find that 
more than fifty Winters have gone by, since the Iroquois, or "the 
Six Nations of Indians" first selected the Ho-di-wi-yus-doh (the 
Society of Friends) as their friends, upon whom they could re- 
pose confidence, without fear of being betrayed. The selection 
was made from the sects and denominations of those who styled 
themselves Christians, at the time when war had diminished the 
numbers of the Iroquois Braves — when the Iroquois Bow-string 
had broken — when his Council-fires were nearly put out, by the 
blood of his people, and the loud thundering voices of the big 
iron guns of the pale-faces, caused the ground to tremble beneath 
his feet; and his Council-House to shake to its very foundation — 



70 

when oppression crushed the Iroquois, and cruelty made his 
heart bleed — ^^when murder and robbery, committed upon the Red 
man, brought bounty to the spoiler committing the foul deed — 
when the pale-faces, like hungry hounds, chased the Red man 
from his hunting grounds. 

It was then that the Red man's sun was darkened, and the 
Great Spirit had drawn his sable garment before its shining face, 
and left his Red children to roam in gloom and uncertainty. In 
looking around, the Iroquois saw none to assist him in his strug- 
gles for his liberty, his country and his firesides — he found no 
sympathy from the pale-faced Chrsitian, save from the Society of 
Friends, who, with the true principle of the «pirit of Christianity 
implanted in their breasts, guided by the dictation of the good 
spirit, and following the counsel and mandates of Him loho never 
errs, came to our relief: not with powder, bullets or arms, but 
with sympathy in their bosoms, pity in their hearts, and friend- 
ship in their hands. 

The Society of Friends were early impressed with the convic- 
tion, that in order to prepare our people to resist the assaults of 
our civilized white neighbors, they must be taught and mad'O to 
understand the habits of civilized life. These Friends, therefore, 
at an early day, introduced agriculture and the arts and sciences 
smong us, and provided competent persons to instruct us in 
them, while by their counsel, advice and example, they enlight- 
ened^ encouraged and assisted us in our progress towards civili- 
zation. 

As the great improvements made by our people went forward, 
the war-hatchet was buried, the Tree of peace was planted — the 
silver chain of Friendship that bound our people with the chil- 
dren of the immortal Washington, continued untarnished, and 
the guarantee of the United States Government for a peaceful 
and quiet possession of our Lands by Treaties was given, yet 
the desire of the pale-faces to get from us our lands^ continued 
until the winter of 1837 or 1838, when it prevailed. Thus the 
prediction of a dying Chief, (Red Jacket) many winters before, 
was literally fulfilled ; our Lands were taken from us by the arts 
and schemes of rapacious white men, assisted by a few wicked 



71 

CMefs of our own Nation, whom tliey had corrupted and seduced 
to betray their people and sell the Inheritance of their Nation. 

' ' Brothers ! it was when our Nation was friendless and in 
distress, and seemed doomed to destruction, that an appeal was 
made to you for aid. You immediately informed yourselves of 
our condition, and interested yourselves with the authorities at 
the city of Washington, on our behalf. Months and years 
passed without success ; still you remained our firm and unwa- 
vering friends. In the year 1842, you -at length succeeded in 
procuring the return of two of our Reservations, containing more 
than fifty-three thousand acres of land, by which our people 
were saved from the horrors and destruction that would have 
followed their compulsory removal, and when we contemplate 
the bitter experience of the Emigrants that were decoyed away 
in 1846, and reflect on the inevitable and certain destruction that 
awaited -as, had our projected removal been effected, we tremble, 
and offer our gratitude to the Great Spirit, for providing us, in- 
you, faithful Friends, and for his goodness in opening a way by 
which you were enabled to rescue us. 

You have stood by us on all occasions of danger and trouble, 
and by bringing our wrongs to public notice by publications, 
you awakened the popular sympathies in our favor, and rolled 
back the tide of prejudice and oppression which threatened the 
extermination of our Race. By these measures the people of 
the State of New York have been awakened to a sense of justice 
towards us, and have opened their cofiers and furnished the 
means for the erection of school houses, and the support of com- 
petent school teachers among us ; and they have likewise passed 
Legislative enactments in order more effectually to protect our 
rights and preserve our race. 

' ' Brothers ! your labors among us are now about to be dis- 
continued, but you have assured us that you are still our Friendff 
and willing to assist us whenever it shall become necessary — that 
you will continue to feel an ardent desire for our future welfare, 
and extend your fostering care over our people — finally, that you; 
have not abandoned us to become a prey to our heartless ene- 
mies, the Land Speculators, 



72 

*^ Brothers ! we hope you will teach your children to love and 
pity the Red man, so that when the Master of Life and Lighfe 
shall call you hence, your Red brothers may still have friends, 
like you, and the good understanding now existing between us^ 
be forever perpetual and cherished between your posterity and 
ours. 

* ' Brothers ! for the services you have rendered us, accept the 
gratitude of an injured and oppressed Race. We earnestly in- 
voke the blessings of the Great Spirit upon you, and ask him to 
extend his protecting care over your Friends who are now hei^ 
with us, and that whenever they shall depart from among us, he 
will conduct them safely home to join you once more. Broth- 
ers — farewell." 

Signed on behalf of the Committee of the Council of the 
Seneca Nation of Indians : 

PETER WILSON, 
JOHN LUKE, 
JOHN SNYDER, 
LITTLE JOE. 
[Attested.] 

Wm. Jemerson, Clerh 

of the Seneca Nation of Indians. 



The Committee x)f Friends on Indian Concerns having, in the 
year 1855, received an invitation from the General Council of 
the Seneca Nation, to make them a visit in order to consult upon 
some matters on which they desired advice, it was, after consul- 
tation, concluded to comply with their request, and a Delegation 
from the Joint Committee was appointed to the servicQ. They 
arrived at Cattaraugus on the 22d of the 9th month, 1855, and 
were received by the Indians with kindness. The proposed 
Council was opened on the 25th, and was attended by more than 
two hundred, including several from Allegany and Tonawanda. 
A full opportunity was afforded to discuss the several matters 
which the Indians desired to submit to the consideration of the 



I'riends then in attendance, and after a higlily interesting an^ 
satisfactory conference, and the information and counsel desired, 
had been communicated to the Indians, the Council being about 
to a Ijourn, John Hudson, Ex-President of the Nation, arose and 
delivered an impressive parting address, during which he said : 

"Brothers: — We believe that the Great Spirit looks dowti 
upon us in this Council with approbation ; for we know that it is 
pleasing to him that all men should do good to one another. 
He has given to mankind a good spirit, by which they can know 
what is right and what is wrong. He has made known to them 
his will, and he commands all to obey it. He is no respecter of 
persons, yet he hates pride and self-exaltation. He who follows 
the dictates of that good spirit, which is given to man, there is 
no fear but that he will do that which is right. No matter hoV 
huuiblo his station maybe, the Great Spirit looks down upon hifu 
wiih pleasure. 

"Brothers: — The Council of this Nation wishes you to con- 
tinue your love and your kindness. It is their cherished hope 
that the chain of friendship which has so long bound us together, 
may grow stronger and brighter ; and we now say that we shall 
endeavor to do all in our power to follow the advice and instruc- 
tion which have been given to us by this Delegation of Friends ; 
for it is our sincere desire that onr people may become united, 
and live in harmony and peace. We need your assistance and 
advice in bringing about this result. We have only to ask that 
you may have patience and bear with us, foir our minds have not 
yet, all become straightened. 

"Brothers: — We observe that the present Delegation of 
Friends is composed of aged men ; men who have become expe- 
rienced in the world ; men who know what it is to do rightly, and 
who live rightly. You, HAI-WAU-NOH, have now seen nearly 
eighty winters. You have become an aged man. We love and 
reverence you for your age, but more for the interest you have 
taken in our concerns when we were in trouble and distress. 
We entreat of you, therefore, that you may continue still to look 
10 



74 

upon us and pity us in our lowly condition, and as the ExMbassa- 
3)0R of the Seneca Nation, we hope and believe that you will 
keep a diligent watch over the interests of your adopted nation ; 
that being acquainted with the nature of "prowling wolves,'^ 
and with the circumstances in which our nation now stands, 
should you discover any evils threatening our nation, you will 
immediately inform it of the danger. 

' * Brothers : — In conclusion we say, we regret to have to part 
with you so soon ; and as we may never meet again, (still we 
have hopes that we may,) with warm hearts we will take you by 
the hand and bid you farewell. May the Great Spirit protect 
you safely on your journey home, and when your sun shall have 
set beyond the western hills^ and darkness shall enshroud the 
mounds that cover you, may the moon, when rising above the 
tree tops in the east, look down on your graves in peace." 



It may perhaps not be improper here to remark, that the opin- 
ion generally prevails among the North American Indians, that 
they are a sui generis — a distinct race, not descended from the 
same original parents, as either of the varied colored inhabitants in 
other parts of the world. According to their cosmogony, which 
is of great traditional antiquity, and which as respects the origi- 
nab chaotic condition of matter, its gradual reduction into order — 
the subsequent progress of creation, and the once spontaneous 
productions of the Earth, it bears a remarkable coincidence with 
the account given us in the Bible. They say, the Great Spirit, 
after the water was collected »into seas, created fishes and other 
aquatic animals — that after there was dry land, and it became 
clothed with vegetation and produced food for them, he created 
birds and other animals — that when he had done this, he came 
down and looked upon all that he had made, and saw that it wa» 



75 

beautiful ; and that he then created man of different colors, out 
of the ground, in the several countries where he placed them, 
and adopted their condition and capacities to the climates and 
condition of the countries they were to inhabit — and that the Red 
men were the last and most perfect part of his creation.* 



At a treaty held in the year 1744, between Commissioners on 
the part of the States of Virginia and Maryland, and certain of 
the Northern Tribes of Indians, for the purpose of agreeing on 
the lines of division between them, the Commissioner of Mary- 
land claimed to own the country west of the Blue Ridge moun- 
tain, upon the ground that it belonged to Maryland one hundred 
years. In denying the right of Maryland to it, Can-nas-sa-tego, 
an Iroquois Chief, said : 

" Brother, the Governor of Maryland I when you mentioned 
yesterday, the affair of the land, you said you went back to old 
times, and told us you had been in possession of the land in 
Maryland, above one hundred years ! but what is one hundred 
years to the length of time since our claim begun? for we must 
tell you that long before one hundred years ago, our ancestors 
came out of this very ground, and their children have remained 
in possession of it ever since. Your ancestors came out of the 
ground that lies beyond the sea ; there you may have a just 
claim, but you must admit, we are your older brothers here, and 
that these lands belonged to us long before you knew anything 
about them." 

Ga-chra-do-dow, another Chief, said: "Brother! the world 
at first, was made on the other side of the great water, different 



*See speech of Red Jacket, page 60, and speech of Can-nas sa-tcgo, 
page 75. 



from what it waa made on this side, as may be known from th(}^ 
different color of our skin, and of our flesh, and what you call 
justice, may not be so among us., you have yqur laws and cus^ 
tpms, and vfe haye ours also." 



POSTSCRIPT. 



After the preceding account of the difficulties in which the 
Seneca nation have been involved, had been printed, the follow- 
ing correspondence and documents were received. They are 
here added, that the friends of these Indians may be apprized of 
the dangers and troubles to which they are yet exposed, and of 
there still being a necessity for a watchful and friendly care over 
them. 



Department of the Interior, Office of } 
Indian Affairs, Dec. 22d, 185G. ) 

Sir: — Information has been received at this office, through 
the Agent and the Council of the Seneca Indians residing in the 
State of New York, that large tracts of land belonging to those 
Indians, forming part of the Allegany and Cattaraugus Reser- 
vations respectively, were sold by the Comptroller of that State 
in the month of November, 1853, for delinquent highway taxes 
for the years 1845, '46, '47, and '48, and that deeds for the same 
were granted to the purchasers in January last, which will vest 
the title in them, unless the lands are redeemed before the 15th 
of April, 1857. 

I am also informed by the Agent, that these lands were as- 
sessed, by virtue of an act of the Legislature of New York, 
approved April 24th, 1853, authorizing the lands of non-resi- 
dents to be assessed for highway purposes. If he be correct in 
ithis respect, the Commissioners of Highways mnst have consid- 



ered and treated these lands as having been disposed of by the 
Indians, and as having become the property of a non-resident 
Company, or of individuals, which is not the case. At the time 
the treaty between the United States and the New York Indians 
was negotiated, at Buffalo Creek, January 15, 1838, the Seneca 
Nation contracted to sell their four reservations in the State of 
New York, to Messrs. Thomas Ludlow Ogden and Joseph Fel- 
lows, commonly known as the Ogden Company, but subsequently 
by the treaty of May 20, 1842, the said sale was annulled and 
rescinded, in so far as the Allegany and Cattaraugus Reserva- 
tions were concerned, and the Nation restored to all their rights, 
in respect to these tracts, which they have since continued to 
own and occupy, and of course did so own and occupy at the 
several times when these taxes were assessed. By a provision 
contained in this last mentioned treaty, the Government agreed 
to use its influence to protect the lands of the said Seneca Indi- 
ans Reservation in their possessions in the State of New York, 
from taxation for highway or other purposes, until such lands 
should be disposed of by them and the possession thereof relin- 
quished. 

In the discharge of my duty as the Commissioner of Indian 
Affairs, I feel it necessary and proper to lay this matter before 
your excellency, and to ask your favorable influence to induce 
the Legislature of New York, at its approaching session, to remit 
the taxes for which the lands were sold, and the penalty attend- 
ing such sale, and to cancel the Comptroller's Deeds therefor. 

A petition from the Seneca Nation to that effect will be laid 
before the Legislature, by my advice, and with the concurrence 
of your Excellency, there can be little doubt that the desired 
relief will be afforded. 

I have the honor to be, with great respect, 

Your obedient servant, 

GEORGE W. MANYPENNY, 

Commissioner. 

His Excellency Myron H. Clark, 

Governor, dx. 

i 



State of New York, Executive Depart3ient, ") 
Albany, Dec. 26, 1856. J 

E. Meriam, Esq., 

Dear Sir : — I am in receipt of your note relative to the taxes 
on the lands of the Indians in this State. I have also received 
a communication from the Department of the Indian Affairs at 
"Washington, on the same subject. 

I deem it to be the duty of the State to carry out the agree- 
ment contained in the treaty made with the Indians in that re- 
spect : and even if there were no stipulations of that kind, I con- 
sider it equitable, just and proper that the lands owned and occu- 
pied by the Indians should be exempt from taxes. 

I will lay the communication before the Governor elect, and 
advise him to call the attention of the Legislature to this subject 
in his Message. 

I have the honor to be, with great respect, your obedient 

servant. 

MYRON n. CLARK. 

There will be a united effort in this matter of protecting the 
Indians from the loss of their land. Mr. Thomas, of Baltimore, 
a member of the Society of FIlIE^'DS, is charged by the Yearly 
Meetings of Friends, of New York, Genessee, Philadelphia 
and Baltimore, with the duty of holding conferences with the 
United States Government at Washington, in relation to Indian 
affairs, and the letter which Governor Clark speaks of as having 
been received from the Department of Indian Affairs at Wash- 
ington, was at the instance of Mr. Thomas, of Baltimore, who 
visited Washington expressly in reference to this matter. 



State of New York, Assembly Chamber, ] 
Alhanij; Jan. Sth, 1857. j 

Resolved, That the Comptroller be requested to report to this 
House whether any lands owned by the Indians of this State 
have been sold for taxes, and if so, what lands ; when they wer& 
sold; under what law; what is the amount of taxes unpaid; 



BO 

^lien the lime uf redemption will expire, and iiis opinion in 
regard to the validity of such sales. 



State of New York, Comptroller's Officie, \ 
Albani/, January 9, 1857. j 

Hon. DEWiTt C. LiTtlEjrOHN, 

Speaker of the Assembly: 
Sir : — In i-epjy to the Resolution of the Assembly of the 8th 
inst., on the subject of lands owned by the Indians of this State 
which were sold for taxes, I have the honor herewith to submit 
my report. I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

L. BURROWS, Comptroller. 

Comptroller's Office, Albany, Jan. ^tJi, 1857. 
In compliance with the foregoing resolution of the Assembly, 
the Comptroller submits the annexed statement, which exhibits 
the description of the lands sold in 1853, said to belong to the 
Indians residing in Cattaraugus county, and the amount for 
which the same was sold. 

The lands referred to, were sold in pursuance of Chap. 13, 1 
Vol., Revised Statutes, relative to the assessment and collection 
of taxes ; and the time allowed for th« redemption of such lands 
expired on the 25th November, 1855. The sale is valid for any- 
thing that appears from the books and documents in this ojQ&ce. 
Respectfully submitted, 

L. BURROWS, Comptroller. 



A statement of lands lying in the county of Cattaraugus, said 
to belong to Indians residing in the State of New York,^ which 
were sold by the Comptroller in the year 1853 for the unpaid 
highway taxes of one or all of the years 1845, 1846, 1847, and 
1848, viz: 

Sis thousand acres: being all that part of the Allegany 
Reservation lying in the town of Carrolton, sold to the people of 
the State for four hundred and thirty-eight dollars and fourteen 
cents ($438 14). 



.^1 

Eight thousand six hundred acres : being all of the aforesaid 
Reservation lying in the town of Cold Spring, sold to the peoplo 
of the State for eight hundred and six dollars and sixty-seven 
cents ($806 67), 

Nine thousand acres, being all of the aforesaid reservation, 
lying in the town of Little A^alley, sold to Harve}^ Baldwin for* 
seven hundred and sixty-two dollars and thirty-seven cents 
($762 37) and conveyed June 11th, 1856, to N. W. Pender- 
gast. 

Two thousand four hundred acres : being all of the aforesaid 
reservation, lying in the town of Eandolph, sold to Harvey 
Baldwin for one hundred and one dollars and seventy cents, 
(101 70) and conveyed to the said Harvey Baldwin on the third 
day of January, 1856. 

Two thousand four hundred acres : being all of the aforesaid 
reservation lying in the town of South A^alley, sold to Harvey 
Baldwin for forty-eight dollars and eighty-one cents, (^48 81) 
and conveyed June 11, 1856, to N. W. Pendergast. 

Two thousand two hundred acres, being part of the Cattarau- 
gus reservation, bounded south by lots 49, 41, 33, 25, and part 
of lot 17, in township No. 6, range No. west by the county 
line, northerly and easterly by Cattaraugus Creek, sold to Har- 
vey Baldwin for one hundred and eight dollars and sixty-nine 
cents, ($108 69) and conveyed to the said Harvey Baldwin on 
the third day of January, 1856. 

One thousand two hundred acres, being that part of the Cat- 
taraugus reservation, bounded West by lots 14, 15, and the 
South part of lot 16. South by lots 6, 9, and part of lot 3, in 
township No. 6, range 9, North and East by Cattaraugus creek : 
sold to John Kiersted, Jun., for sixty-one dollars and thirty 
cents, ($61 30) and conveyed to the said John Kiersted, on tho 
fourth day of January, 1856. 



State of New York, Executive Department, | 
Albany, Jan. 17, 1857. j 

Sir : — I have the honor to transmit herewith to tlie Assembly 
a communication received bv my predecessor from the office '>f 
11 



S2 _ 

Indian Affairs in the Department of the Interior of the United 
States, in relation to the sale in the month of November, 1853, 
of large tracts of lands belonging to the Seneca Indians in Alle- 
gany and Cattaraugus counties, of this State, for delinquent 
highway taxes. 

JOHN A. KING, Governor 
of the State of New Yorh. 
To the Hon. DeWitt C. Ltttlejohn, 

Speaker of the Assembly. 



Memorial of the President and Counsellors of the Seneca Nation 

of Indians, to the Honorable Senate and Assembly of the 

State of New Yorh. 

Your petitioners, the President and Counsellors of the Seneca 
Nation of Indians, in special council assembled, at their council 
house on the Cattaraugus Keservation, in said State, on the first 
day of January, A. D. 1857, in pursuance of previous notice 
duly given, do respectfully represent, that the notices of which 
printed copies are hereto annexed, of the sale of thirteen thou- 
sand three hundred acres of the lands of said nation, on the 
Cattaraugus and Allegany Reservations, by the Comptroller, for 
taxes, were served on each of your petitioners in the month of 
November last, and the service of such notices was the first in- 
timation which your petitioners and other Indians of said nation 
had of the sale of said land for taxes. That no demand for the 
payment of said taxes was ever made of the constituted govern- 
ment of said nation, nor of any individual Indian living on said 
Reservations or either of them, although said Indians have 
always been in the actual possession of said lands ; and although 
at the time the warrants for the collection of said taxes were in 
the hands of the town collectors unreturned, the Indians residing 
on said lands in such towns, owned and possessed horses, cattle, 
crop? of grain and other personal property of the value of many 
thousands of dollars, yet no effort whatever was made to collect 
any portion of said taxes out of the said personal property, 
then being on the lands described in the notices hereto annexed. 

The amount of money necessary to redeem said lands i» 
§1400 70, and the same should be paid to the Treasurer of the 



83 

•State of New York by tlie fifteenth day of May next. Your 
petitioners have been informed since the service of said notices, 
that said taxes were levied at the time the Ogden Land Company 
claimed to own said lands by virtue of the inirjuitous treaty of 
183S, which said pretended Treaty has been proved to have been 
obtained by perjury, by bribery and by forgeries of the most bold 
and outrageous character ; and the same was not in fact signed 
by a majority of the Chiefs ^nd head men of said nation, and 
was never assented to by one-fifteenth part of the Indians living 
on said Reservations at the time of the making of such Treaty ; 
and your petitioners therefore claim that neither the legal nor 
ecjuitable title to said Reservations was changed thereby, and the 
said Company have long since abandoned all claim of title to 
said Reservations, by virtue of such pretended Treaty. 

And your petitioners in behalf of the Senecas residing on said 
Reservations, further and respectfully represent, that said lands 
were given to our forefathers, by the Great Spirit, long before 
the white man ever saw or heard of the same, and from them 
have descended to their children. That at an early day the 
Crown of England claimed the pre-emptive right to the soil of 
said Reservations with other lands of the Senecas; and England 
granted such pre-emptive right to the State of Massachusetts, 
the validity of which grant was recognized to be binding by the 
State of New York, so far as the latter State was concerned^ and 
when Massachusetts ceded the civil jurisdiction of the county to 
New York, she expressly reserved the pre-emptive right to the 
soil of these lands, and when afterwards Massachusetts sold such 
pre-emptive right to a company of speculators, the sale was made 
upon the express condition that these lands should never be 
taken from the Indians, but when purchased from them by their 
voluntary consent, and further that no treaty for its transfer 
should ever be deemed valid, except when made in the presence 
and under the guardianship of a Commissioner appointed by the 
Governor and Council of Massachusetts, whose duty it should be 
to see that the Indians were fairly dealt with. 

And your petitioners further and respectfully represent that 
the Senecas have been repeatedly recognized both by the govern- 
ment t)f this State and of the United States as an Independent 



84 

Nation, living under their own institutions, and that as sucb^ 
treaties have been made with them as with other Sovereign States, 
that they are not claimed or acknowledged to be citizens of ^ew 
York, and have no representation in her Legislature, and conse- 
quently, according to an admitted maxim of your own govern- 
ment, such Legislature has no power to tax them, nor have your 
petitioners ever l)efore heard of an instance in which Indian 
lands have been sold for taxes. 

And your petitioners claim, that the money realized from the 
sale of said lands for taxes, having been paid into the Treasury 
of this State, and been levied for its benefit, and without any 
legal authority, it would seem to be just and equitable, that the 
State should redeem the same. 

And your petitioners take this opportunity of acknowledging 
with lively gratitude the many beneficent acts recently passed by 
the Legislature of New York, for the education, protection and 
improvement of our people^ and we most ardently hope and trust 
that the same generous policy, and the same watchful guardian- 
ship of the rights of the Senecas, which have heretofore charac- 
terized the Legislation of this great State in respect to them, 
may be continued in all time to come. 

And your petitioners, for and in behalf of said Nation, pray 
that you may grant them relief in the premises by passing a law 
making provisions for the redemption of said land, or for such 
further or other relief as in your wisdom may be equitable and 
as shall efficiently protect the rights of your petitioners. 

JOHN LUKE, President of Seneca Nation of Indians. 

their 
JOSEPH X DUDLEY, Councillor 
JOSHUA X TURKEY, 

PETER X SNOW, *' '^ ^' 

JOHN X BENNETT, 1st " 
GEO. X KENJOCKETY, " 

marks. 
SENECA WHITE, 
[Attest.] 

Jas. S. CrREETfiBLAjiJKETj Clerk of Seneca Nation of Indians, 
J), Sherman, Attorney " • ' ■• 



86 



State of New York, Xo. 2'^, Ix S^:cate, ] 
January '2'lnd, 1857. j 

Report of the Judiciary Committee on the 3Iemorial of the 
President and Councillors of the Seneca nation of Indians, 
for relief from taxes. 

The judiciary committee, to whicli was referred the memorial 
of the President and Councillors of the Seneca Nation of In- 
dians on the Cattaraugus and Allegany reservations, praying for 
relief from certain taxes alleged to have been illegally assessed 
thereon, respectfully report : 

Ihat they have investigated the facts and statements set forth 
in said memorial, and have caused an examination to be made in 
the Comptroller's office as to the taxes assessed on said reserva- 
tions, and have also examined the several treaties herietofore made 
with the Senecas and certain decisions of the courts of this State 
and of the United States, touching the authority of the Legisla- 
ture of this State to impose such taxes, and present the follow- 
ing as the result of their investigations. 

At an early day Great Britain ceded to the State of Massachu- 
setts the right of pre-emption to a large tract of land in the 
western part of this State, including these reservations, which 
was simply the right to purchase of the Indians whenever they 
might choose to sell, to the exclusion of any other nation, and 
upon such terms as the parties could agree. 6 Hill, 546. 

By the first article of the convention, a compact between Mas- 
sachusetts and New York, dated December 16th, 1786, Massa- 
chusetts ceded to New York all her right and title " to the gov- 
ernment, sovereignty and jurisdiction'^ of these with other lands 
therein described, and by the second article thereof, New York 
ceded to Massachusetts " the right of the pre-emption of the soil 
of the native Indians'^ of the same lands : and by the tenth ar- 
ticle of such compact it was covenanted on the part of New York, 
that no purchase from the native Indians of any grantee of Mas- 
sachusetts should be made, unless the same was made in the 
presence of a superintendent appointed by Massachusetts to see 



80 

that the Indians were fairly dealt by, and unless such purchase 
should be confirmed by the State of Massachusetts. On the 11 th 
day of May, 1791, Massachusetts conveyed the pre-emption 
rights in these lands to Robert Morris, and soon afterwards 
Robert Morris conveyed the pre-emption of the same to what is 
known as the Ogden Company. 

The treaty of peace concluded with the Six Nations at Fort 
Stanwix, October 22, 1784, defines the boundaries of their lands 
including these reservations, aud the United States therein cov- 
enant that said Indians should be secure in the peaceable posses- 
sion of same. (U. S. Statutes at Large, Indian Treaties, vols. 
7—15.) 

And by the treaty between the United States and the Six Na- 
tions, at Fort Harmar, concluded January 9, 1789, the title of 
said Indians to their reservations is again confirmed. (U. S. 
Statutes at Large, Indian Treaties, vol. 7, p. 33.) 

The treaty between the United States and the Six Nations, 
held at Canandaigua, Nov. 11, 1791, in the 3d article thereof, 
defines the boundaries of the lands belonging to the Seneca Na- 
tion of Indians, which boundaries include the Allegany and 
Cattaraugus Reservations and concludes as follows ; 

"Now the United States. acknowledge all the lands within the 
aforementioned boundaries to be the property of the Seneca Na- 
tion; and the United States will never claim the same, nor dis- 
turb the Senecas in the free use and enjoyment thereof; hut it 
shall remain theirs until they choose to sell the same to the people 
of the United States ivho have the right to purchase.^' (U. S. S., 
Indian Treaties, vol. 7, 44.) 

By a treaty between the various tribes of New York Indians, 
(ib. 550.) held at Buffalo creek, January 15th, 1838, and con- 
firmed by the United States, April 4th, 1840, the Senecas in con- 
sideration of certain lands thereby ceded to them west of the 
Mississippi river, and of §202,000 to be paid them by the Ogden 
Co., conveyed to said company their four reservations in the wes- 
tern part of this State, to wit: the Buffalo creek, Tonawanda, 
Cattaraugus and Allegany reservations, containing in the aggre- 
gate about 115,000 acres of choice land. The Senecas on the 



87 

Allegany and Cattaraugus reservations, as is well known, were 
greatly incensed at this treaty, and claimed that the same was 
obtained by gross frauds and irregularities. Fourteen-fifteenths 
of the Senecas on these two reservations were alleged to be vio- 
lently opposed to the treaty, and proclaimed their unqualified 
opposition to the same, and that they would surrender their 
lands and homes only as they might be driven from them by 
superior force. 

The Indians refusing to surrender possession of their lands for 
the reasons alleged, the controversy resulted in a compromise 
between the Senecas and the Ogden Co. ; and another treaty, 
known as the compromise treaty, was concluded at Buffalo creek, 
May 20, 1842, to which treaty the State of New York, Massa- 
chusetts, the United States, and the Seneca Nation were respec- 
tively parties, and such treaty recites, verbatim, the agreement 
of same date between the Senecas and the Ogden Co., whereby 
the Ogden Co. ' ' covenant and agree that the said Nation shall 
and may continue in the occupation and enjoyment of the whole 
of said two tracts of land called the Cattaraugus reservation and 
the Allegany reservation, icith the same right and title in all 
things as they had and possessed therein immediately hefore the 
date of the treaty of 1838, saving to said Ogden Co. the right 
of pre-emption." And by the second article of such agreement, 
the Seneca Nation released to said Ogden Co. all claim and title 
to the Buffalo creek and Tonawanda reservations, confirming in 
that respect the treaty of 1838; and the 9th article of such 
agreement provides as follows: "Art. 9. The parties to this 
compact mutually agree to solicit the influence of the United 
States to protect such of the lands of the Senecas within the State 
of New York as may from time to time remain in their posses- 
sion from all taxes and assessments for roads, highways and other 
purposes, until such lands shall be sold and conveyed by said 
Indians and possession thereof shall be relinquished by them." 
Such treaty after reciting said agreement in full, provides as 
follows : 

"■ Therefore taking into consideration the premises it is agreed 
and stipulated by and between the United States of America and 
the Seneca Nation of Indians as follows : 



88 

First, the United States of America congetit to the seYcral 
articles and stipulations contained in the last recited indenture 
between the said Ogden and Fellows above set forth." 

In the opinion of your committee there can be no boubt but 
this treaty placed the title of the ^'enecas to the Allegany and 
Cattaraugus reservations in the same condition that it was prior 
to the treaty of 1838. The State of New York being a party to 
the treaty of 1842, is of course bound by the provisions, and is 
also bound not to impose taxes on said reservations. 

By an act of the Legislature of this State, passed May 4th, 
1849, (chap. 254,) the boards of supervisors of the counties of 
Allegany, Erie, Chautauque and Cattaraugus were respectively 
authorised at any time to assess highway taxes on the Cattarau- 
gus and Allegany reservations within their respective counties, 
necessary to put the highways and bridges on said reservations 
in good repair ; and the board of supervisors of Cattaraugus 
county under said act, assessed 31,800 acres of the Allegany 
and Cattaraugus reservations in that county in the years 1845, 
1846, 1847, and 1848 ; and said taxes not being paid, the said 
lands were, in the month of November 1853, sold by the Comp- 
troller, of which lands the Comptroller has bid in for the State 
14.600 acres, and the Comptroller has sold and conveyed to oth- 
er purchasers 17,200 acres. The amount of money necessary to 
redeem said lands so sold (see memorial) is $1,491 55 ; and no- 
tices to redeem said lands were, in November last, served on 
the Indians residing on said reservations, and the time to re- 
deem same will expire in May next. No taxes have been assess- 
ed on said reservations, under said act, except those above men- 
tioned, which are in the county of Cattaraugus. 

Your committee are of the opinion that the act above cited, of 
the Legislature of this State, passed in 1840, was enacted solely 
with the view to tax said lands as against the Ogden Company, 
and on the supposition that the treaty of 1838 was valid and 
binding. 

And your committee are also of the opinion that by the sub- 
sequent treaty of 1842, to which this State was a party, the act 
of 1840 was in fact annulled, and the said assessments of taxes 



89 

made thereafter, on which said lands have been sold for taxes by 
the Comptroller, were made without any authority of law; and 
your committee have been unable to learn of any instance in 
which Indian lands have heretofore been sold for taxes excepting 
those above mentioned. 

The policy of the people of this State towards the various 
tribes of native Indians residing therein, has always been liberal, 
just and beneficent. The learned judge -in the case of Ogden vs. 
Lee, reported in 6 Hill, 549, well remarked, that "so far as the 
State of New York is concerned, he was happy to say, that be- 
yond what may have been acquired by conquest in lawful war, 
the Indians have never been deprived of a single foot of their 
lands without their voluntary consent," 

From a carefid examination of the several treaties heretofore 
made with the Senecas, and decisions of the highest courts of 
this State and of the United States, (0 Hill, 549 ; 5 Denio, 628; 
6 Peters, 544 ; 9 Peters, 745 ; 2d vol. Public Land Laws, p. 
158 ;) your committee are clearly of the opinion, that the Sene- 
cas do not hold the title to the Cattaraugus and Alleghany reser- 
vations under the State of New York, nor under the United 
States, but their title to the same is original, absolute and exclusive.' 
And as the Senecas are not citizens of this State, and have no 
representative in our Legislature, we can claim no right to tax 
them. (Chap. 378, Session Laws of 1849; chap^. 150, Session 
Laws of 1845 ) They are rather to be regarded as a distinct 
and independent nation, having a constitution and representative 
government of their own. 

The money advanced by the State on the sale of these lands, 
having been expended on these reservations in the construction 
of roads without request from the Senecas, and under a mistaken 
view as to the force of a statute which was acnulled by a treaty 
subsequently made, and the board of supervisors of Cattaraugus 
county being simply the agents through which the money was 
disbursed ; and the citzens of said county, from the peculiarly 
isolated situation of these reservations in respect to their business 
interests, not being materially benefitted in the construction of 
«aid roads, it would, in the opinion of your committee, be just 
12 



90 

aud equitable for the State to redeem these lands, and make pro- 
vision against their assessment in future. 

Your committee are therefore unanimously of the opinion that 
the prayer of the petitioners should be granted, and accordingly 
ask leave to introduce the accompanying bill ; all which is re- 
spectfully submitted. 



State of New York, No. 85, In Senate, ") 
January 22nd, 1857. j 

Reported by Mr. Noxon, from the committee on the judiciary — 
read twice, and committed to the committee of the whole. 

AN ACT 

To RELIEVE THE SeXECA NaTION OF InDIANS FROM CERTAIN 
TAXES ON THE AlLEGANY AND CaTTARAUGUS EeSERVATIONS. 

The People of the State of JSfew York, represented in Senate 
and Assembly, dp enact as follows : 

Section 1. The title of every such lot or parcel of the Alle- 
gany reservation, and of every such lot or parcel of the Catta- 
raugus reservation as has been heretofore sold by the comptroller 
for taxes, and bid in by him for the State, is hereby released by 
the State to the Seneca nation of Indians residing on said reser- 
vation. 

Sec. 2. The treasurer of this state is hereby directed to pay 
out of the treasury thereof, on the warrant of the comptroller, 
to every grantee, or to the person claiming under him, of every 
part or parcel of either of said reservations as has heretofore been 
gold by said comptroller for taxes, the consideration money paid 
on any such sale, with the addition of seven per cent, per annum 
thereon from the time of such sale, together with the amount 
that shall have been paid for the deed, in redemption of every 
such lot or parcel of land so sold as aforesaid, and the expenses 
so to bo incurred in redeeming said lands shall not be charged 



91 

over to any town or county, but the same sliall be borne by the 
state. 

Sec. 8. Upon such redemption as provided for in the last pre- 
ceding section being made, the comptroller shall give to said 
Seneca nation of Indians a certificate under his hand and seal, 
stating the payment, the year in which the sale was made, and 
showing particularly what land such payment is intended to re- 
deem; and such certificate shall be evidence of such redemption, 
and may be recorded by the clerk of the county wherein such 
land is situate, in the book for the recording of deeds, and there- 
after said Seneca nation of Indians shall own said land in fee 
simple. 

Sec. 4. No tax shall hereafter be assessed or imposed on 
either of said reservations, or on any part thereof, for any pur- 
poses whatever, so long as said reservations remain the property 
of the Seneca nation, and all acts of the legislature of this state 
conflicting with the provisions of this section, are hereby re- 
pealed. 

Sec. 5. This act shall take efi'ect immediately. 



The statements in this Report, and the provisions in the bill 
that accompanies it, manifest a most benevolent and laudable 
disposition on the part of the constituted authorities of the State 
of New York, to protect the Senecas in their just rights, and to 
assure to them their property. Any authority in ^at State, to 
tax those Indians, is disclaimed, and it is acknowledged, that the 
land owned by them never belonged to the State of New York. 
It is also conceded, that the right of these Indians to their land 
never was afi'ected or impaired by the fraudulent treaty of 1838, 
and that it remains to be theirs * ' loitli the same right and title in 
all tilings, as they had and j^ossessed therein immediatehj before 
the date of that treaty, and that the Ogden Company have no 
right in or to it, save cmly a right to purchase it," 

The committee of the Senate further say — that from a careful 
examination of the several treaties heretofore made with the 



9-2 

Seiiecas, and decisions of the highest conrts of this State, and of 
the United States, your committee are clearly of the opinion, tha* 
the Senecas do not hold the title to the Cattaraugus and Allegany 
RevServations under the State of New Yorli, hut their title io the 
name is original, absolute and exclusive. 

Ill addition to these admissions on the part of the constituted 
authorities of the State of New York, the following assurance 
was given to those Indians hy Dewitt Clinton, when Governor: 
' ' You may retain your lands as long as you please — no man can 
deprive you of them without your consent. The State will pro- 
tect you in the enjoyment of your property .''^ Added to this, in 
a solemn declaration addressed to them by General Washington, 
when he was President of the United States, he said: — "Hear 
well and let it be heard by every person in your Nation, the 
President of the United States declares, that the general' 

GOVERNMENT CONSIDERS ITSELF BOUND TO PROTECT YOU IN ALL 
THE LANDS SECURED TO YOU BY THE TREATY OF FoRT StANWIX, 

IN 1784." With all these assurances and guarantees, the title 
of the Senecas to the lands they own, rests upon the most im- 
pregnable foundation that any title to property can be placed, and 
the investigations that were rendered necessary, by the recent 
attempt to take from them their comfortable homes, have led to 
more full information respecting their title to the land they 
claim, and has also placed before the country, the important fact, 
that their title, which is pronounced to be ^'original, absolute and 
exclusive,''^ has been solemnly guaranteed to them, both by the 
States of New York and Massachusetts, and also by the Govern- 
ment of the United States. 



0^ H32 75 b'^ 



■y ^^ 























0' 



:1 



L^ 











» , . » O,^ O^ ^ , „ o ' 








>^.< 











ts ^ 









A' 







'..*^ ,G 







.^'\ 




'p 







,^'!^.J5„ 






^^ 



A 



-^^^^ 



A^ 



o V 



<:>^ 

-^'^^;^^^^ 








^^ 



•*b 


v-^" 






^ 
■^•--0^ 


^° 




--. 




,5 °- 







